The death toll from the quakes in south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria exceeds 33,000.

On Saturday, Turkish vice president Fuat Oktay said that warrants had been issued for the detention of 131 people who were suspected of being responsible for collapsed buildings.

The country’s justice minister vowed to punish those responsible and prosecutors have gathered samples from the rubble for evidence.

Two people arrested in the province of Gaziantep are suspected of having destroyed columns to create extra room in one building that collapsed.

The justice ministry is to establish an “Earthquake Crimes Investigation” bureaux. It aims to identify contractors and others involved in building works, gather evidence and instruct experts including architects and engineers,

One contractor was detained at Istanbul airport on Friday before he was able to board a flight out of the country.

Opposition politicians have criticised the government of President Erdogan for not enforcing building regulations.

Kemal Kılıçdardoğlu, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the main opposition, asked how the administration had used the four billion lira (£176 million) in “quake taxes” collected following the Marmara earthquake in 1999.

Mr Erdogan came to power partly by taking advantage of the public fury over the previous government’s response to the 17,000 deaths in that disaster.