Earthquake in Turkey: Mayor explains why Erzin in Hatay did not suffer any damage or loss

Not a single building was destroyed in Erzin during the earthquakes that turned Hatay into a pile of debris. Regarding the reason CHP Mayor Ökkeş Elmasoğlu has said, “Many people said ‘Is there no right/decent man other than you’, but we did not allow illegal construction.”

The 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş caused great destruction in 10 provinces. In Hatay the earthquakes almost completely destroyed thousands of buildings and turned them into a pile of debris, whereas not even a single building was destroyed in ERZIN district, in said region.

There is no loss of life in Erzin which has a population of 42 thousand, located 20 kilometers from Osmaniye and 110 kilometers from Hatay which was seriously affected by the earthquake.

“THERE IS NO LOSS OF LIFE”

Ökkeş Elmasoğlu, the Mayor of Erzin district, told TV5 that there were no casualties in the district.

Elmasoğlu said, “It is 15-20 kilometers away from Osmaniye and 110 kilometers away from Hatay. Despite this, thank God, we did not have any loss of life caused by the earthquake itself in our Erzin, we did not have any injuries, we did not have any debris.”

Describing the moment of the earthquake, Elmasoğlu said, “We are glad on behalf of our district. But of course we are sorry because of all these deaths, we were really surprised too, we experienced such a shake (quake), so it’s indescribable. I also live in a single-storey detached house. We were shaken very violently and immediately ran to the door with our children, we could hardly move. We waited for it to end, but it didn’t end. When it got a little lighter with a concussion for over a minute, we left the house as soon as we got the items we could get immediately.”

“I DID NOT ALLOW ILLEGAL CONSTRUCTION”

Emphasizing that he dis not allow illegal construction in any way, Ökkeş Elmasoğlu said, “First, for my own part, let me say about my period; I did not allow illegal construction in any way. And sometimes they got angry, as a mayor, they said to me, ‘Is there no other honest (decent) man other than you in this country’. Even one of them, three months had passed, after being elected, a relative of ours came from afar and said, ‘A fine has been written to us for illegal construction…’ And when I said, ‘There’s nothing I can do,’ he said, ‘Are you the only decent person in Turkey?’. I heard these words with my ear.”

“For my part, I have a very clear conscience, we did not allow illegal construction in any way. Of course, if you don’t allow it, there is someone who has found a way and somehow built illegal construction. There are sections where we have written penalties for illegal construction. If you cannot prevent illegal construction by one hundred percent, you can also cut it at a certain stage. At least I don’t feel any responsibility for myself. There is no way I can tolerate this and I’m trying not to involve politics in it. That’s why we’ve been bad with people and a lot of people.”