Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Saturday only four cases of looting in earthquake-hit areas had been confirmed, despite numerous reports suggesting the phenomenon has been much more widespread
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th February, 2023) Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Saturday only four cases of looting in earthquake-hit areas had been confirmed, despite numerous reports suggesting the phenomenon has been much more widespread.
"The number of looting cases is only four," he said in a televised press statement during a trip to the quake-ravaged southern province of Diyarbakir.
At the same time he said 284 people had been arrested for robbery.
The Turkish government plans to issue regulations that will foresee very heavy penalties for those trying to get rich off the quake victims' misery, Bozdag promised. It has also taken legal action against those who violate construction rules, making homes unsafe.
Two powerful earthquakes rocked southern and central Turkey on February 6, killing more than 44,000 people and destroying hundreds of thousands of homes. Almost 2 million people have been offered temporary shelter in and outside of the disaster zone, according to the AFAD disaster management authority.
AFAD general manager Orhan Tatar said on Saturday that more than 9,500 aftershocks had been felt in the region since the initial quakes. Tremors measuring up to 6 magnitude on the Richter scale have been recorded every three minutes and are expected to continue for at least two years.
