Following a series of earthquakes occurred in Çanakkale recently, a new earthquake happened this time in Samsat, Adıyaman, severely damaging many houses. This latest earthquake once again revealed how important is to construct quality buildings. The fact that many buildings collapsed even in a 5.6 magnitude earthquake shows how risky an earthquake is for our country. In fact, the risk is not about earthquakes but about unsafe buildings. Buildings that are constructed using quality materials and in accordance with technical engineering and architectural rules eliminate the risk of earthquakes.
İMSAD (Association of Turkish Building Material Producers) President Ferdi Erdoğan made a speech on the occasion of the Earthquake Week of March 1-7. Erdoğan recalled the Environment and Urbanization Minister Mehmet Özhaseki’s words delivered at the 35th İMSAD Turkey General Assembly when he said “An earthquake with a magnitude of over 7 is expected to hit Istanbul by 2030 and, before this happens, a total of 7 million buildings need to be changed immediately. A total of 500,000 buildings need to be changed every year with 200,000 buildings in Istanbul and 300,000 buildings in Anatolia.”
“As the minister pointed out, there is a big earthquake expected in Istanbul in particular and we have to take the necessary measures immediately. We still remember the tragedy of 1999 when Kocaeli was hit by an earthquake. There is no way we can forget it. If we do not want to have similar tragedies when a same kind of an earthquake hits Istanbul, we have to take the necessary measures immediately and get rid of unsafe buildings. The measures that need to be taken urgently when it comes to earthquake and unsafe buildings have yet to be entirely completed up until today and thus they could not take effect. We have to take actions as immediate as possible and prevent earthquakes from being the fate of a community,” Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan emphasized that the Turkish construction business has all the qualifications, knowledge, and competence in order to construct safe buildings boasting quality materials, as well as the best architectural and engineering techniques. “All the legislative shortcomings must be addressed and a strong inspection mechanism must be created to construct safe buildings. Unfortunately, the lack of inspections in particular can lead to misconducts in building quality. At İMSAD Turkey, we constantly underline the importance of the Market Surveillance and Inspection. We also support all the works carried out by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization in this area. Given the existing number of employees at the ministry, we cannot expect the desired efficiency to be achieved in inspections. That’s why developing a system where non-governmental organizations will also play an active role in inspections will highly benefit our country.”
Erdoğan: “We have to construct buildings with a future vision”
Erdoğan says that İMSAD Turkey supports urban transformation. “We also support the urban transformation activities initiated in our country. However, we have to take the necessary measures so as to prevent the existing urban transformation process from doing more harm than good to our country. As the urban transformation process continues, the legal infrastructure shortcomings must be addressed. A finance model regarding urban transformation must be developed. Urban transformation activities should not be about buildings; they should be about areas. By transforming buildings, we are losing the essence and spirit of urban transformation. We have to focus on areas. We have to construct houses that will be able to meet the needs of the future. I mean, we have to construct buildings that will last at least 100 years in order to avoid discussing urban transformation again after 20-30 years. Our country still has seven million houses at risk. These buildings must be demolished and reconstructed. This would cost about $155 billion. In order to avoid this cost from being a burden to the economy, this money should be spent for once. That’s why carrying out this in the best way possible will positively affect the national economy,” Erdoğan continued.
