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Erdogan has acknowledged

Turkey quake tests Erdogan's all-powerful rule

KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey: When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan assumed sweeping powers in 2018, he swore the state would deliver more under a centralised system that his critics compare to one-man rule.

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan assumed sweeping powers in 2018, he swore the state would deliver more under a centralised system that his critics compare to one-man rule.Five years on, an agonisingly slow response to a catastrophic quake has undermined that idea, boosting the opposition's case in polls planned for May, experts say.Erdogan has acknowledged "shortcomings" in the government's handling of Turkey's deadliest disaster of its post-Ottoman history.

Many in Turkey say more people could have survived the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the south of the country and neighboring Syria a week ago if the emergency response had been faster and better organized. Reuters spoke to dozens of residents and overwhelmed first-responders who expressed bewilderment at a lack of water, food, medicine, body bags and cranes in the disaster zone in the days following the quake - leaving hundreds of thousands of people to fend for themselves in the depths of winter.