And can the buildings be fixed?
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On the morning of February 6, a pair of powerful earthquakes, 7.8 and 7.6, hit Turkey and Syria. On top of that, the region was hit with strong aftershocks, which made the destruction even worse. The death toll is already in the tens of thousands with many victims still lying beneath the rubble.
Multiple factors led to this earthquake being so devastating, like fault lines, neighborhoods still reeling from war and delayed rescue missions. But what made this earthquake particularly catastrophic was unsafe buildings. According to the Turkish government, over 6,000 buildings collapsed because of this earthquake. And that’s likely because of the way they were built.
This video will explain how bad building design made the Turkey-Syria earthquake more deadly than it had to be.
Correction: The map at 5:49 has been updated with correct labels. A previous version of this video had incorrectly swapped Peru and Ecuador. Additionally, the animation at 2:32 was updated to reflect the columns can often be made out of brittle concrete.
Sources and further information:
This report from Turkish civil engineers helped us understand the impact the Izmit earthquake had on soft story buildings: http://www.bupim.com/yayinlar/bupim-pdf/ECAS66.pdf
This report published in the Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering gave us some context on the history of Turkey’s building codes: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/245378123_The_August_17_1999_Kocaeli_Turkey_earthquake_-_Damage_to_structures
This explainer by BBC helped us learn more about misleading advertisements in Turkey:
https://www.bbc.com/news/64568826
This article published in The Conversation explained why Turkey’s buildings collapse like pancakes:
https://theconversation.com/earthquake-footage-shows-turkeys-buildings-collapsing-like-pancakes-an-expert-explains-why-199389
And we highly recommend this newsletter by Andrew Revkin on losses and lessons from Turkey and Syria’s earthquake
https://revkin.substack.com/p/gauging-losses-and-lessons-in-turkeys
For more of Vox’s reporting on Turkey, listen to Today, Explained’s episode here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/turkeys-man-made-catastrophe/id1346207297?i=1000600044893
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that was not cement , that was chalk
I didn't see a ny rebar
What can the common man and woman do to ensure that Turkey enforces its codes?…
That is the real question…
Adamlar bize bina nasıl yapılır dersi vermiş
Builders to be sued
One of the things that contributed to the fall of the USSR was the 1988 Armenian earthquake that turned out so deadly because of all the pancaking buildings and how it revealed the extent of corruption that led to so much substandard housing.
But how will rich people continue to make vast profits if they have to meet quality standards? 🙄
How? It was a created attack. .that's how.
The problem with humanity is the need to have all these weapons, 1 million people in turkey army, engineers will do what the builder wants and government corrupt.
Isn't tearing it down and rebuilding more expensive than retrofitting?
If so why are they being torn down and rebuilt instead of being retrofitted?
Nice! vote again Erdogan now, lol
But how is this going to impact holiday prices to turkey?
Just build it right or don't do it at all.
insanlarımızın öldüğü yetmezmiş gibi bir de dünyaya rezil olduk, yurt dışında yaşayan hiç kimse buraya gelmek istemeyecek.
If the fault lines run along its northern border laterally and same with the southern fault line, it wd make far more sense to establish towns n cities in the centre of the country away from the fault lines.
There are many videos with new multi-storey buildings are crashed like these little soft-story buildings. So it's not a problem of old buildings. It's a problem of corruption, of course
i feel bad 😞😔 for ppl in Turkey….but will someone with a background in structural engineering please explain to me how come 9/11 collapse also explained on the basis of pancake theory looked way different from any of the buildings seen here. I am very curious. please don't reply with sarcasms
As a Turk, if I write what I feel here, I am sure they will sue me.
I hope the people can take this as a point to actually start CHANGING something in their country. Corruption killed so many people.
No that isnt true!! , the most buildings which collapsed ,damaged are made before 1999 .. look at satellite photos
Many Old buildings are still there without damage
This country is my country.Turkey is a rich and beautiful country. But there are those who accept killing people to spend less money.I'm ashamed of these. my souls are dead ! Mothers, fathers, babies, children died… Aunts uncles died…My citizen died. I'm ashamed and so sorry. We will never forget… Please nobody forget. Buildings should be solid!!
Turkey was longtime under CHP order and their partners,,it was all about money to give certificates to bad buildings til akp came and brought many to jail and changed workers in government that act in that area ,,turkey has to much such bad buildings with paid certificates and it took years to build new or refresh it
Human Rights?! Whats that I never heard of it!.. ps. I live in Turkey
Very informative
How come those building collapsed when there was no shaking. The cameras were still but the building fell?
because of thief building contractors and bribed, corrupt and rotten rulers of Turkey.
OMG, everything was excellent except for the last few seconds where they commented that to solve the problem was to insist this was a "human right", naive???
Syria is an unhappy country. For years, US mass murderers have been killing Syrians and now an earthquake.
Im from Istanbul, Turkey. Thank you so much for covering this subject 💔
As a Turkish, I want to tell you that guys, these collapses are not all about engineering, but about everybody who has money can be a contractor in my country , and they can easily steals materials like cement , they can use sea sand and weak irons. They can add extra waters on the concrate etc. And there is so much corruptions on municipalities. Thats the reasons.
Can't believe this is true!! Cockroaches can even survive radioation.
Feminine report
How many such buildings are build in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and rest of Turkey? What about those who are living in those cracked buildings that was caused by this recent earthquake ?
Finally someone who speaks the Truth and reveals real reason for this catastrophe
Notice how you can still see the floors? When buildings collapse the concrete doesn’t turn into dust… like the twin towers or bldg 7. Only explosives can do that.
Турецкие лаваши из бетона и мяса. Класс!
Yes we can see the price for strenghtening the structures… but tell me this: How much do 17k or currently 40k lives are worth ?!
It looks just like how the condo in Florida collapsed.
Did u see what it did to the olive tree fields 🤔
Rebar? Not enuf rebar? 😒😔
every country has a different history background and culture, different development progress, take some time to get improvement