Turkey officials jail 184 after quake

More than 600 building owners, managers, and construction contractors are being investigated after the catastrophic earthquake, and 184 have been arrested, a Turkey official said Saturday. The 7.8-magnitude earthquake on Feb. 6 killed nearly 48,000 people and destroyed or seriously damaged over 173,000 buildings. Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Saturday that many of the suspects were already in jail pending trial. Experts have said many of the destroyed buildings didn’t meet government standards. More than a million people have been displaced by the earthquake, forcing them to stay in gyms, hotels, and stadiums.

How else is the Turkish government responding? On Thursday, it launched an operation to move displaced people from tents to container cities. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had promised to rebuild destroyed homes within the year. Opposition parties have accused his administration of failing to enforce building regulations.

Dig Deeper: Read Sharon Dierberger and Onize Ohikere’s report in WORLD Magazine about people delivering aid in Turkey.