It isn’t getting better a devastating event.
Related article from 2017, basically predicting this disaster would be worse than need be...
https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/09/07/547608828/turkey
One wonders if the filling of open areas was also considered to reduce the risk of them becoming protest areas?
Now, IF the buildings that went into those open areas were really built to reliably withstand any likely quake, I can see that they would be an asset, becoming lots of shelter after a quake. But, if not so built...