In early February 2023, the twin earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.8 and followed by a 7.5 magnitude nine hours later, was not only the deadliest event in the last century for the two countries, with nearly 60,000 deaths, but also one that saw massive-scale destruction of buildings and structures.
The area is earthquake-prone because it sits where three tectonic plates meet. The 2023 earthquake was the most devastating to hit Turkey in over two decades and was as strong as the 1939 earthquake.
The Center for Disaster Philanthropy data shows that at least 230,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed across 11 provinces in Turkey, and at least 10,600 structures were entirely or partially destroyed in northwest Syria. In Aleppo alone, around 3,500 buildings were damaged and needed structural repair, and 700 were classified as unsafe.
The high number of buildings and infrastructure destroyed in both countries highlights the problem that has plagued them: the lack of safe, up-to-code housing.
PBS reports that the region is blamed for having codes that allowed high-rise structures to be built quickly without regard for earthquakes to accommodate the high housing demand.
After the 1999 Izmit earthquake in Turkey, which killed 17,000 people, the government updated the building codes to allow buildings to “bend” during earthquakes, which would reduce significant damage and life-threatening destruction. However, these codes were mostly ignored or loosely enforced. Some developers preferred to pay fines rather than comply with them.
The article notes that experts warned of the dangers associated with rapid and unplanned urbanization after the Izmit tragedy in areas where earthquakes present higher magnitudes of damage to infrastructure. Still, these warnings were unheeded, and rapid urbanization took place.
With natural disasters escalating due to climate change, these negligent practices have proven deadly and very costly to the government in the end.
Dr Henry Bang, a geologist and disaster management expert at the Bournemouth University Disaster Management Centre, said: “Some buildings have simply collapsed to the ground while many [multi] storey buildings collapsed like a pack of cards. This shows that most buildings did not have the relevant features to provide stability during an earthquake (Beaumont, 2023).
Prof Ian Main, a professor of seismology and rock physics at the University of Edinburgh, agrees, “Looking at some of the pictures of the damaged buildings, it is evident that most of them were not designed to withstand powerful earthquakes. It is clear that many apartment blocks have experienced so-called pancake collapse.”
“There should be seismic codes in place to stop this, but they are not well enough enforced. It is not unusual to see one block standing with little damage, and the one next to it – due to dodgy construction or use of poor materials – completely flattened”, Prof Main adds.
The high death toll and scale of destruction resulting from the 2023 earthquakes have led Turkey to pour billions of dollars into earthquake-resilient infrastructure.
In hindsight, the damage and loss could have been much less if resources had been channelled into complying with the correct building codes and retrofitting older buildings.
Source:
2023 Turkey-Syria Earthquake. (2024). CDP. Retrieved from https://disasterphilanthropy.org/disasters/2023-turkey-syria-earthquake/
Cordingley, H. (2024). Unenforced Building Codes Worsened the Impacts of the Earthquake That Hit Turkey and Syria. PBS. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wnet/peril-and-promise/2023/07/unenforced-building-codes-worsened-the-impacts-of-the-earthquake-that-hit-turkey-and-syria/
Beaumont, P. (2023, February 7). Turkey earthquake death toll prompts questions over building standards. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/feb/07/turkey-earthquakes-death-toll-prompts-questions-over-building-standards
Leave a Reply