Earthquake in Turkey: Why did so many structures fall?|Blind Article

Anger has been sparked by the sight of newly built apartments falling apart during the earthquakes that struck Turkey. The BBC looked at three brand-new buildings that had been demolished to see what they said about building safety.

In the southern part of Turkey and the northern part of Syria, thousands of people were killed by two major earthquakes measuring 7.8 and 7.5 on the magnitude scale, which flattened all kinds of buildings.

However, there are pressing concerns regarding building safety regulations as a result of the fact that even some of the most recent apartment buildings demolished.

Buildings should be able to withstand quakes of this magnitude using modern methods of construction. Additionally, following previous disasters in the nation, regulations were expected to ensure that these safeguards were incorporated.

Social media footage shows people screaming and fleeing for cover in the first of three new building collapses identified by the BBC.

In Malatya, the remaining portion of an apartment building is positioned at an angle over rubble and dust as the lower half of the building crumbles.

The apartments were just built last year, and screenshots of an advertisement that said the building was "completed in compliance with the latest earthquake regulations" have been shared on social media.

The advertisement claimed that all materials and workmanship were of "first-class quality." Even though the original advertisement is no longer available online, social media screenshots and videos of it match other advertisements from the same company.

Due to its recent construction, it ought to have been constructed in accordance with the most recent standards, which were updated in 2018, which mandate that earthquake-prone structures use high-quality concrete reinforced with steel bars. For earthquakes to be effectively absorbed, columns and beams must be distributed.

However, the BBC has been unable to confirm the building standards utilized in this block.

Another recently constructed apartment complex in the port city of Iskenderun was largely destroyed, according to photographs. The 16-story building's side and rear collapsed completely, leaving only a small portion of the block standing.

The BBC compared the collapsed building's image to a publicity picture released by the construction company, which shows that it was finished in 2019.

As a result, it ought to have been constructed in accordance with the most recent guidelines. The responsible construction company has been contacted by the BBC, but no response has been received.

Another image from Antakya, which the BBC confirmed, shows that behind a sign with the development's name, a significant portion of a nine-story apartment complex was reduced to rubble: Bahce Guclu

We discovered video of the opening ceremony of the housing complex, confirming its completion in November 2019.

Ser-Al Construction's owner, Servet Atlas, makes the following statement in the video: In terms of its location and construction characteristics, the Guclu Bahce City project stands out from the rest."

Mr. Altas, in response to the BBC, stated: One of the hundreds of structures I've constructed in Hatay, the southern province with Antakya as its capital. Two blocks have unfortunately collapsed."

He adds that the magnitude of the earthquake was such that almost none of the city's buildings survived intact. "Under the guise of reporting, we painfully witness how some media organizations alter perception and select scapegoats," he stated.

Numerous people in Turkey have inquired about the nature of the building regulations in light of the number of collapsed structures in the affected region.

Experts say that even though the quakes were powerful, buildings should have been able to stand.

Prof. David Alexander, an expert in emergency planning and management at University College London, states, "The maximum intensity for this earthquake was violent but not necessarily enough to bring well constructed buildings down."

Inability to enforce building codes:

Construction regulations have been tightened in response to previous disasters, such as the 1999 earthquake in the northwest of the country that killed 17,000 people around the city of Izmir.

However, the laws, including the most recent 2018 standards, have not been well enforced.

According to Prof. Alexander states that "very little enforcement of building standards on new builds" and "very little retrofitting of existing buildings" are two aspects of the issue.

The BBC's Middle East correspondent, Tom Bateman, met with people in Adana, a city in the south. They said that one of the collapsed buildings there was damaged by another earthquake 25 years ago but didn't have proper retrofitting.

Building codes can help keep people safe during disasters, as demonstrated by countries like Japan, where millions of people live in densely populated high-rise buildings despite the country's history of severe earthquakes.

Safety requirements for construction vary based on a building's use and proximity to earthquake-prone areas: from basic strengthening to placing the entire structure on top of a massive shock absorbed to separate it from the movement of the ground and installing motion dampers throughout the building