ANKARA, Feb 15 Earthquake in Turkey caused problems with the ground, said the Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change of the country Murat Kurum, the Yeni Şafak newspaper writes.
«Most of the buildings were destroyed due to soil, soil liquefaction and lack of engineering services. We continue our work , taking into account the needs of the city, both in the ground survey and in determining new places for construction,» the minister quoted the publication as saying.
The official stressed that houses built before 1999, when a catastrophic earthquake also hit Turkey, collapsed. After that tragedy, the country tightened the rules for building in earthquake-prone areas.
According to Kurum, badly damaged buildings will be demolished.
«Aftershocks are still going on. We plan to complete most of the damage assessment in Gaziantep within three days, and the damage assessment in Turkey within a week,» the minister concluded.
After the catastrophic aftershocks of 1999, which claimed the lives of more than 18 thousand people, Turkey revised the rules governing the construction of residential buildings. In particular, in 2007 they adopted a code for the construction of houses, taking into account the requirements necessary for protection against earthquakes.
President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday also said that 98% of the buildings that collapsed after the tragedy were built before 1999. According to him, at least 41,000 houses in ten provinces affected by earthquakes are destroyed or in disrepair, they must be urgently demolished.
According to experts, about 70% of the Turkish population lives in seismic zones. In order to reduce casualties and destruction in the event of new earthquakes, it is necessary to draw conclusions from the catastrophe on February 6. In particular, Haluk Eyidogan, a professor of seismology, a member of the Council of Scientists of the Istanbul City Hall on Earthquakes, said that now in the southeast of the country, next to completely collapsed houses, there are buildings that were not damaged at all. According to him, it is necessary to understand and explain how this is possible if the houses are built on the same soil, foundation, but one collapses, while the other remains untouched by the elements.
Earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 occurred on February 6 with an interval of nine hours in the province of Kahramanmaras in southeastern Turkey. The tremors followed by hundreds of aftershocks were also felt in neighboring states, including Syria. According to the latest data, more than 35 thousand people died in Turkey as a result of the tragedy.