Turkey widens contractors probe

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — The death toll from last week’s devastating earthquake in southern Turkey and northern Syria passed 33,000 on Sunday.

Survivors and building experts have said that poor construction most likely exacerbated the scale of the quake’s destruction, as well as the number of lives lost.

The Turkish government has responded by arresting building contractors with ties to collapsed buildings, and the Justice Ministry has set up investigation bureaus for earthquake crimes across the affected area.

But construction experts say the builders could not have completed their projects without approvals from a range of officials who have escaped scrutiny for possibly signing off on subpar work.

The 7.8 magnitude quake Feb. 6 caused widespread destruction in 10 provinces in southern Turkey as well as in northern Syria. The death toll had risen above 29,000 in Turkey and more than 3,500 in Syria by Sunday — a figure that makes the quake one of the century’s deadliest natural disasters. More than 1 million people are homeless in Turkey, and many lack shelter in Syria.

Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said Sunday that 134 people had been subjected to legal proceedings over ties to collapsed buildings including 10 who were arrested and seven others barred from traveling abroad.

Two contractors responsible for collapsed buildings in the city of Adiyaman, Yavuz Karakus and Sevilay Karakus, were detained Sunday at Istanbul Airport, the state-run news media reported. They were carrying more than $17,000 in cash and were planning to fly to the country of Georgia.

The Turkish government has mobilized an enormous aid effort, with tens of thousands of rescue workers working with volunteers from around the world. But aid efforts in Syria are severely lagging. The earthquake caused heavy damage in areas controlled by President Bashar Assad’s government and in enclaves controlled by rebels backed by Turkey.