‘Bad buildings’ caused Turkish earthquake deaths, experts say

More than 21,000 people are now known to have died in Monday’s earthquakes (6 February) in Turkey and Syria, with the number still rising amid rescue efforts and concern over survivors left in freezing conditions without shelter, food and water.

Regulations introduced in Turkey after a previous earthquake in 1999 should have ensured that modern buildings were able to withstand quakes of this magnitude. However, the BBC has reported that many new multistorey buildings collapsed in this week’s earthquake.

Emine Filoglu of emerging Anglo-Turkish practice Bluebead Architects was in Istanbul in 1999 and survived the earthquake.

‘For 45 seconds, it was like a warzone, and I didn’t expect many survivors,’ she remembers. ‘We were lucky to escape from the building with our fellow residents without harm, however, a lot of the surrounding buildings either collapsed or suffered large damage.’

Filoglu, the studio manager of Uxbridge-based Bluebead, claimed mandatory policies introduced in the wake of that earthquake ‘had not had any effect’.

She added: ‘Many buildings are poorly constructed with the cheapest materials, and many are constructed very close to fault lines. Hardly any contractors conduct a field report into an area’s proneness to earthquakes and instead prioritise cheap construction and bad methods of construction to create new apartments.

‘This is technically against the law, but the Turkish government do not seem to actively do anything about this.

Many buildings are poorly constructed with the cheapest materials

‘This mentality is also prevalent among those who buy or rent these apartments or offices in these buildings. Unlike the UK where one can procure a surveyor to check the condition of a property or an environmental surveyor to produce a report on the surrounding land before purchasing, there is a tendency in Turkey for people to overlook this.

‘This is a circle that has not changed for a long time, and it is continuing to have significant consequences on people’s lives – literally.’

Turkish civil engineer Ramazan Yildirim told Channel 4 News: ‘The earthquake is not killing people. Bad buildings are killing people.’

He explained that his firm had worked on around 50 buildings in Adana, more than 100 miles from the epicentre of the earthquake, and showed how their reinforced structure meant they had stayed standing. In contrast, Yildirim pointed to a collapsed tower block in which 120 people were living and only four survived, including his young daughter.

UCL professor of emergency planning and management David Alexander told the BBC that thousands of buildings in Turkey had failed to stand up to ‘any reasonably expected earthquake construction code..

He added: ‘In part, the problem is that there’s very little retrofitting of existing buildings, but there’s also very little enforcement of building standards on new builds.’

It has also been reported that tens of thousands of buildings in Turkey were granted ‘construction amnesties’ over several decades. These enabled owners of structures built without the required safety certificates to gain legal exemption upon payment of a fee, a situation that critics say has long risked catastrophe.

Filoglu’s business partner and husband, architect Jimi Deji-Tijani, contrasted the position of Turkey with that of Japan, another earthquake-prone country.

He said: ‘Japan learned the lessons of its past (especially the 1995 Kobe earthquake) and now has some of the most stringent codes in reducing the impact of earthquakes on new buildings and its inhabitants.’

Meanwhile, Article 25, the charity partner at this year’s AJ Retrofit Awards, has pledged to help with the earthquake recovery if suitable partners come forward.

Director of projects Bea Sennewald said the charity was ‘stunned and saddened’ by the devastation caused.

‘It is shocking to see so many fairly modern buildings destroyed,’ she added. ‘We are ready to help rebuild, particularly hospitals, schools and housing.

‘We will gladly work with international aid organisations, local charities and any UK government initiative. Our network of engineers is ready to support us.’

The earthquake didn’t kill the people. The lack of help from the government did.

Several Turkish experts stepping forward with a statement about how they predicted the earthquake. These experts prepared a project to prevent huge damages, but they were rejected by the government. pic.twitter.com/hh9uUA9NZT

— Sofia Amini (@SofiaAmini_) February 8, 2023