As the death toll rises, questions are now being asked about the scale of devastation following the massive earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria in the early hours of Monday.
Located in one of the most seismically active regions in the world, Turkey sits on three tectonic plates and has a history of earthquakes going back 2000 years. Monday morning’s earthquake, which hit southern Turkey along the Syrian border registered a magnitude of 7.8, brought down thousands of buildings, and killed thousands more in both countries. A series of aftershocks with the first registering a 7.5 magnitude, continued the destruction, and the staggering death count, which has already crossed 11,700, is expected to rise.
High population density, the time of the earthquake when most people were sleeping, and the poor quality of construction that brought buildings down in seconds, are some of the reasons being cited for the large-scale damage in the quake-affected areas.
Though modern building codes mandating earthquake-proof construction for buildings were introduced following the 1999 Izmit earthquake in Turkey, shoddy construction continues to be a bane in the country. The 2011 earthquake, which also killed hundreds of people, once again brought to light the lack of enforcement of building regulations.
The region in the East Anatolian fault zone, where the latest earthquake occurred, has been free of seismic events for over 200 years, with many buildings predating the new building codes, and very likely, not retrofitted to withstand earthquakes. However, even new buildings are known to circumvent compliance requirements – a problem made worse by negligence and poor oversight by government authorities.
In 2019, Turkey introduced the revised Seismic Hazard Map and Building Earthquake Code to help build seismically resistant buildings and reduce damage from earthquakes. Given the scale of devastation from the latest earthquake, it is obvious the new building codes have not been implemented properly and continue to be ignored.
The reconstruction process presents an opportunity for the Turkish Government to enforce building laws for new constructions, seismically retrofit older buildings, and hopefully reduce the impact of future seismic events.
Image: Twitter
