Why buildings in Turkey collapsed like a ‘pack of cards’ after earthquakes?

Two powerful earthquakes of 7.8 and 7.5 magnitudes have flattened thousands of buildings across Turkey and Syria. Images and videos of those trapped inside the debris have filled people around the world with sorrow. The tremblors have killed over 20,000 people and injured several others across the two neighbouring countries. At least 5,600 buildings across southeastern Turkey have tumbled in the earthquake that hit on Monday (6 February), Time magazine reported citing the country’s disaster agency. The powerful quake has once again put the limelight on the safety standards of buildings in Turkey and the reasons so many structures collapsed like a ‘pack of cards’. Let’s take a closer look. Strong tremors Turkey is situated on two main fault zones, the East Anatolian and the North Anatolian, which makes it more susceptible to quakes. This week’s earthquakes were powerful enough to bring buildings down causing a large-scale disaster. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Professor Okan Tuysuz, a geological engineer from Istanbul Technical University, said “We are dealing with truly massive earthquakes here”. “The first one was roughly equivalent to the energy release from an explosion of about five million tonnes of TNT. The second was equivalent to 3.5 million tonnes. Most buildings would struggle to withstand such force,” the professor added. [caption id=“attachment_12137572” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The earthquake has killed thousands across southern Turkey. AP[/caption] Sinan Turkkan, civil engineer and president of Turkey’s Earthquake Retrofit Association, said the severe earthquakes hit in “quick succession”. “Many buildings only received light to medium damage in the first quake but collapsed after the second one,” Turkkan told Al Jazeera. ALSO READ: How India is going above and beyond to help earthquake-hit Turkey Shoddy construction Experts have pointed out that shoddy construction and the use of inferior materials have contributed to the disaster.

David Alexander, a professor of emergency planning at University College London, told Associated Press (AP), “This is a disaster caused by shoddy construction, not by an earthquake”.

As per a BBC report, there were many new buildings that also caved in as the quake hit. The apartments built last year in Malatya, which the advert shared on social media claimed were of “first-class quality”, also sustained damages, with the lower half crumbling and tilting the rest of the building, the report added. In Antakya, a historic city in Hatay, Ronesans Residence – considered one of the “luxury” buildings in the area – that was completed in 2013 fell down, AP reported. Guclu Bahce, a building in Antakya, that was inaugurated in 2019 was also destroyed. Servet Atlas, the owner of Ser-Al Construction, which developed the Guclu Bahce City told BBC, “Among the hundreds of buildings I have built in Hatay [the southern province which has Antakya as its capital]. Unfortunately and sadly two blocks… have collapsed.” Speaking to BBC, Professor David Alexander, an expert in emergency planning and management at University College London, said that well-constructed buildings would have survived these recent earthquakes. “In most places, the level of shaking was less than the maximum, so we can conclude out of the thousands of buildings that collapsed, almost all of them don’t stand up to any reasonably expected earthquake construction code”. According to Eyup Muhcu, president of the Chamber of Architects of Turkey, it is “common knowledge” that many buildings – old and new – were built using inferior materials and methods, and “often did not comply with government standards”, AP reported. Professor Ian Main, a professor of seismology and rock physics at the University of Edinburgh, told The Guardian, “Looking at some of the pictures of the damaged buildings, it is evident that most of them were not designed to withstand very strong earthquakes. It is clear that many apartment blocks have experienced so-called pancake collapse.” “This happens when the walls and floors are not tied together well enough, and each floor collapses vertically down on the one below leaving a pile of concrete slabs with hardly any gaps between. This means that chances of survival for anyone inside are very small.” ALSO READ: How the Turkey earthquake is a big test for President Erdogan as elections loom Poor code enforcement After 1999, when a magnitude 7.6 earthquake rocked the Western Marmara region, causing 17,500 fatalities, Turkey significantly improved its seismic design code. Doctor H Kit Miyamoto, a structural engineer at ​​Miyamoto International, said that, in 1997, Turkey passed a code that required buildings to be built using ductile concrete – a material more flexible in earthquakes. However, Miyamoto believes that only one in 10 buildings in Turkey meet this standard, reported Time.  In 2008, the country also launched an urban transformation project to prepare for the next big quake. But, as experts have noted, lax enforcement and poor-quality construction practices have continued. [caption id=“attachment_12137582” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Turkey is full of buildings made of poor-quality materials. AP[/caption] “On paper, Turkey’s seismic design code is up to global standards – it is actually better than most,” Turkkan was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera. “In practice, however, the situation is very different.” Though the government offered financial incentives, it did not make it mandatory for people to take part in its urban transformation project. Many did not have the means or simply did not want to spend money on rebuilding to meet the latest standards, reported Al Jazeera. Thus, Turkey remains full of buildings constructed using low-quality materials and not up to par with the new code. ‘Unsafe’ buildings legalised Moreover, just before the presidential and parliamentary election in 2018, the government rolled out “construction amnesties”, in which legal exemptions were granted to companies and individuals responsible for some violations of the country’s building codes in exchange for a fee. As per Pelin Pınar Giritlioğlu, Istanbul head of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects’ Chamber of City Planners, around 75,000 buildings across the earthquake-hit zone in southern Turkey have been given construction amnesties, reported BBC. Such amnesties have also been provided by the governments in the past to woo voters ahead of elections. Cemal Gökçe, the chairman of the Chamber of Civil Engineers, had warned against this system in 2019. “It will mean transforming our cities, notably Istanbul, into graveyards and result in coffins emerging from our homes,” he had warned, as per The Guardian.  “Whether it is completely unlicensed, or has more floors than the original plan, they gave an amnesty to all buildings. This is very dangerous,” Gökçe added. Slamming this amnesty progamme, Muhcu alleged that the Turkish government has legalised unsafe buildings. “We are paying for it with thousands of deaths, the destruction of thousands of buildings, economic losses,” the president of the country’s Chamber of Architects was quoted as saying by AP. Meanwhile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has assured that it will investigate the destroyed buildings. “Those who have been negligent, at fault and responsible for the destruction following the earthquake will answer to justice,” Bekir Bozdag, the country’s minister of justice, said, reported AP.  With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.