A Japanese architect has criticized the lax enforcement of modern building codes and other measures in Turkey, saying it is partly to blame for the devastating damage the country has suffered from recent powerful earthquakes.

The head of Japanese construction company Hazama Ando Corporation's Turkey office, Moriwaki Yoshinori, has been trying to raise disaster prevention awareness across Turkey since Japan's March 2011 quake and tsunami.

The first-class registered architect said Turkey's anti-quake engineering standards are the same as Japan's, but there have been problems enforcing them.

He said the current and past Turkish governments have introduced a program to grant amnesty to companies and individuals that violate the building codes as long as they pay a fine.

He added that checks by authorities before and after construction work begins are lax, and inexperienced engineers can become qualified as design or construction experts.

Moriwaki said that although building codes and other measures were reviewed in Turkey after a deadly quake in 1999, the damage this time has been just as deadly. He expressed regret that his efforts to warn against the amnesty program fell on deaf ears.

He said Turkish authorities need to identify and correct the problems with the system when reconstruction efforts begin. He added that banning construction on weak ground is an option.