Gelisim News

After the earthquake of 5.8 in Istanbul yesterday, 473 buildings were damaged. Eyes have been turned to the historic structures in Istanbul as well as the buildings. Civil Engineer Assist. Prof. Dr. Ali Etemadi said that historical buildings can be affected more because of the nature of non-ductile act and their heavy mass.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Ali Etemadi from the Department of Civil Engineering at the Istanbul Gelisim University, stating that the historic buildings are affected more due to the earthquake because of their heavy mass, said: “A major earthquake will most likely affect unreinforced masonry buildings and walls in Istanbul. Historic buildings that are not reinforced are in more danger. Yet, damages can be limited due to the taken measures in the design of structures such as Hagia Sophia under construction. However, an earthquake over 7 Richter magnitude can cause serious damage to these historic buildings. Since each of them has different structures and different additions to them in different periods, detailed studies are needed for seismic behavior determination. All of them need to be examined and strengthened with today's methods.”

Reminding that Istanbul is a region with a high risk of earthquake, Assist. Prof. Dr. Ali Etemadi said: “The buildings at risk the most in Istanbul are the buildings built before the 1999 earthquake regulations. There are several problems such as low concrete quality, reinforcement detail, non-ductile connection behavior in these buildings. The government has decided to rebuild these risky buildings under the urban transformation project. The renewal process will take time as the number of buildings in need to be rebuild is high. However, priority is given to buildings which are important in terms of the number of people in the buildings and the obligation to provide uninterrupted service after the earthquake and disaster management after the earthquake. These include hospitals, government offices, schools. It is especially important that hospitals are not damaged. In fact, the new regulation has added new conditions to make hospitals resistant to earthquakes by using new technologies such as base isolators.”

Stating that according to 2016 data of Disaster & Emergency Management Authority Presidential of Earthquake Department (AFAD), there are 2354 assembly areas in Istanbul but TMMOB Chamber of Civil Engineers said that most of these areas cannot be considered as ‘assembly area’ in terms of quality, Assist. Prof. Dr. Etemadi said: “As you know, many of these assembly areas have been zoned for construction. But Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality strives to re-determine and organize them as soon as possible.”

Saying that it is necessary to pinpoint areas where there are more possible effects of earthquake and old structures as soon as possible, Etemadi expressed: “These areas need to be taken within the scope of the transformation project. New buildings will not be damaged on a large scale as they have been provided engineering service. However, unstructured damages such as collapsing suspended ceilings, falling of cupboards, demolition of partition walls can be expected in such buildings. Yet, I do not think there will be any major structural damage in these new buildings.”