The authorities in the Elbistan district of Turkey’s southeastern Kahramamaraş province have been busy over the weekend removing the rubble left from the collapsed buildings, in a rush to prepare the city for the president’s visit.
Elbistan, which is home to more than 100,000 people, was the epicentre of one of the twin earthquakes that hit southern Turkey on 6 February. The district has been massively damaged by the tremor, which affected a total population of 13.5 million people in the region.
Official data state that over 1,000 people lost their lives in the earthquake in Elbistan, and nearly 3,000 buildings collapsed in the district.
While the people living in Elbistan still complain about the lack of sufficient humanitarian aid delivered, the officials of the district seemed preoccupied with pleasing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rather than speeding up post-quake relief efforts.
The authorities produced hundreds of lorries and pieces of construction equipment, which were nowhere to be seen straight after the tremor, to remove building rubble before Erdoğan’s visit on Monday. Tents and a container city were also rapidly set up before his arrival, while the district’s coordinating governor, appointed after the disaster, said they wanted to wake up to a new Elbistan on Monday morning.
Earthquake victims in Elbistan have been expressing concern over the hasty removal of rubble, which has ignored their requests to search for valuables and collect belongings. The removal operations have also raised fears of evidence being tampered with, evidence that will be crucial for legal complaints to be lodged against those responsible for the poor construction of the buildings leading to such destruction.
“I asked to get my valuables from the rubble of my house. I begged and pleaded but they wouldn’t let me. The excavator driver told me, ‘Erdoğan is coming here and we have been asked to clear this debris quickly. We cannot wait for you, because we are working from hour to hour’,” a local told Mezopotamya News.
The president has visited the earthquake-hit region several times since 6 February. In the early days of the disaster, his visits were accompanied by a huge security detail, sometimes forcing search and rescue teams to halt their work.
Erdoğan visited Osmaniye province last week with his far-right ally Devlet Bahçeli. Before their visit, the district authorities laid fresh asphalt on damaged roads and rushed to clean the city, as in Elbistan.
A video showing Erdoğan thanking the mayor of the province for “keeping Osmaniye very clean” went viral after the visit.
