28,000 dead and rising, and volunteers are still working 24/7 to find survivors, while others help with aftercare, and relief and medical aid begin to reach affected areas. As usual, workers across the world will be donating money, and we applaud the humanitarian efforts.
But now the recriminations start over shoddy building standards that ignored modern safety regulations in an active earthquake region. It has largely been newly built buildings that collapsed because building regulations were evaded for private gain, or not enforced. The Turkish government is now issuing arrest warrants for building contractors in a bid to deflect blame, even though they’ve been ‘selling’ cheap amnesties for years in a bid to promote a housing boom.
As always, capitalist priorities are starkly opposed to human welfare: profit matters more than keeping people safe.