Negligence, not the soil, demolishes

Prof. Dr. Celalettin Kozanoğlu, Head of Department of Civil Engineering, Izmir University of Economics (IUE), stated that many buildings that were destroyed in the earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş were destroyed due to project, material and application errors. Prof. Dr. Kozanoğlu said, “Unfortunately, we do not learn and become aware, we do not give up our bad habits. If you demolish the wall and install glass, make unauthorized additions to the building to make it look aesthetic, if you do not use the necessary materials just to reduce the cost, the building will not withstand earthquakes even if it is new. It's not the age of the building that matters, but how it was built. Also, poor soil cannot be an excuse for demolition.”

Two earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.7 and 7.6, the epicenter of which were in Kahramanmaraş and caused great destruction in 10 cities, led to the death of thousands of people. The collapse of even new buildings in the earthquake disaster that devastated Turkey brought the mistakes made during the construction phase and the issue of building safety to the agenda again.

‘POOR SOIL’ CANNOT BE AN EXCUSE

Prof. Dr. Celalettin Kozanoğlu made remarkable evaluations about the destroyed buildings and said: “The earthquake unfortunately showed its bad face again. The pain of thousands of citizens we lost is in our hearts. Unfortunately, the earthquake did not forgive the mistakes and omissions we made in the construction of the building. First of all, I would like to point out that if you prepare a project according to the soil and apply it correctly, your building will withstand earthquakes. A poor soil cannot be an excuse for the collapse of a building. Today we build a 15-deck ship and put it on the water. Because we know water very well. There are 3 key points in the construction of a building. These are; right project, right material, and right workmanship. If even one of them fails, the building can be damaged in an earthquake. Unfortunately, we also have bad habits. We are building shops and markets on the ground floors, saying ‘the wall is not a load-bearing wall’. We break the wall and install glass. This disrupts the systematics of the building and reduces its strength at the time of earthquake. It leads to what we call soft floor in the building. When we look at the destroyed buildings, we see many negligence at this point.”

WE HAVE TO FOCUS ON REALITY

Pointing out that the perception of ‘the new building is not easily destroyed’ refuted in this earthquake, Prof. Dr. Kozanoğlu said, “The first misconception among the public is that low-rise buildings are safer. No such thing exists. It is not possible to generalize like this. Earthquakes strikes with such a frequency that low-rise buildings collapse while all high-rise buildings remain standing. Another mistake is the view that every building over 20-25 years is risky. This is definitely not true either. Even 100 years, let alone 30 years, is not too old for a reinforced concrete building. If you do the right concrete maintenance during production, and if you build the building with the right ground survey and quality materials even a 100-year-old building will not pose a risk. We saw that many old buildings were still standing in this earthquake. If you do not fully implement the project, if you do not pour the concrete correctly, the building does not save you, even if it is young. I have seen that adjacent buildings also cause destruction. Now we have to stop the old habits and focus on reality.”

WE ARE TIRED OF REPEATING

Prof. Dr. Kozanoğlu continued as follows: “It is in our hands to prevent the damage caused by the earthquake. Building construction is serious business. We have one of the best earthquake codes in the world. But mistakes can be made in practice. Now we should care about building construction, mistakes we make cause us to lose our lives. Building safety means life safety. We must raise the level of consciousness in people; and provide training and convey the importance of the situation. We got tired of repeating the importance of columns and beams in buildings. We still hear about columns being cut in buildings. Now we have to put an end to this.”