Residents of an elite housing complex in the Turkish city of Hatay thought their flats were ‘earthquake proof’ until the structure toppled like a domino in the devastating quake, leaving hundreds feared dead and becoming a focus of public anger.
Now the developer of the Ronesans Rezidans (Renaissance Residence) block is in police custody after being arrested trying to leave Turkey and survivors stand by the pile of the debris waiting for news of loved ones as hopes of their survival fade.
The building, which contained 249 flats, was completed only a decade ago.
Forty-seven-year-old jeweller Hamza Alpaslan had been waiting for 10 days on Friday (February 17) for rescuers to find his brother who had lived in the block for 10 years.
Eleven days after the quake that killed more than 43,000 in Turkey and Syria and left millions of people homeless, outrage is growing over what Turks see as corrupt building practices and deeply flawed urban developments that may have resulted in thousands of homes and businesses crumbling.