In line with the request of the Diyarbakır 7th High Criminal Court, where 4 undetained defendants are on trial regarding the Serin-2 Apartment Building, where 77 people lost their lives and 29 people were injured as a result of the collapse of the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes, a 4-person committee formed from Ankara and Middle East Technical Universities prepared a new expert report.
The report made determinations about responsibility and concrete quality, and also included visuals of whether columns were cut in the workplaces under the building.
The report stated that the quality of the concrete used in the building was seriously inadequate, and it was emphasized that this caused the building to be severely damaged and collapsed during the earthquake.
The report noted the following:
"The foundation level of the building, distance to the excavation area, excavation geometry and relevant ground conditions were evaluated together regarding the effect of the road and underpass construction works, which were carried out approximately 19 meters away from the Serin-2 Apartment, on the foundation system and earthquake resistance of the building. It was concluded that the excavation carried out was not of a nature that would weaken the foundation of the building and the ground under the foundation. In the examinations carried out by us, we did not find any technical findings that would contradict this assessment. In this way, within the scope of the file, the vibrations created by the vehicles and trucks used in road construction did not affect the foundation of the building or "There are no findings indicating that the excavation carried out within the scope of road and underpass construction works, vehicle and truck vibrations occurring during the work, humidity observed around the foundation or limited water flow have weakened the foundation system or carrier system of the building in a way that will significantly reduce the earthquake resistance of the building."
In the report, it was stated that the reinforcement details envisaged in the static project were not complied with in the building, and that stirrup spacing and hook details were applied contrary to the provisions of the current regulation, and that seriously low quality concrete was used in the load-bearing elements.
In the conclusion and evaluation section of the report, the following was stated:
"It is clearly understood from the findings in the file that a column belonging to the load-bearing system of the building was subsequently cut. Cutting a load-bearing column reduces the vertical and horizontal load-carrying capacity of the building, changes the load transfer pattern of the load-bearing system and causes additional stress on neighboring load-bearing elements, especially under earthquake effects. It has been evaluated that the person or persons who cut the column, have it done or decide to do this process, bear a significant level of technical responsibility because they directly contribute to the decrease in the earthquake resistance of the building. The common material detected in the building, the application Considering the structural and structural system deficiencies, the responsibility for cutting the column is considered to be lower than the liability arising from material and application defects during the construction phase. The technical responsible, surveyor, site manager and building contractor who are responsible for the severe material and equipment defects during the construction and application phase have a secondary but important technical responsibility. The static project designer and the person or authorities responsible for the technical examination and approval of the project. "It has been evaluated that it bears limited and secondary technical liability. It has been concluded that the collapse of the building was not caused by a single fault or negligence, and that the application, the load-bearing system and subsequent interventions reduced the earthquake resistance of the building and contributed to the result."
"We believe that this report will affect the trial."
Hüseyin Kıratlı, who represented the victims in the case file, told the AA reporter that he lost his parents who were trapped under the rubble of the Serin-2 Apartment, which collapsed in the earthquake.
Explaining that the case file includes expert reports prepared by 3 different universities, Kıratlı said:
"The expert report that came to the case file has proven to confirm our claims of cutting columns. We had claimed that columns were cut in the workplaces in the building since the debris work. This request could not be proven at that time. The report that came proves all our claims. We believe that this report will affect the trial. Therefore, we think that the course of the file will change and the material truth will be revealed, as this report proves our claims. While we continue the legal struggle on behalf of my mother and father and our neighbors, the report added to the file is a heartfelt one. "I will continue the legal struggle until the end. I believe that the report, which proves our allegations of colon amputation, will contribute to the positive progress of the process for us."
Kıratlı stated that they experienced great pain and losses as a society in the earthquake and wished that this pain would end.
Kıratlı said, "I hope we will learn from these earthquakes and the pain experienced will not happen again. We experienced that column cutting was effective in the earthquake. Business owners should not attempt such things and do not get hurt. We lost many people in the earthquake. Column cutting was one of the reasons for this. There was no effective inspection and control. I hope this will be the last and we will not experience such pain as a society." he said.
In the indictment, among the undetained defendants, Hüseyin B, the contractor of the building, Cihan U, the static project designer of the building, and Nasir Ç, who approved the static reinforced concrete project. A prison sentence of up to 22 years and 6 months each is sought for Ekrem B., a building technical officer, and for "causing death and injury to more than one person through conscious negligence".
Within the scope of the investigation initiated by the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, 3 separate expert reports were prepared by delegations consisting of academicians from Fırat University, İzmir Dokuz Eylül University and Dicle University Engineering Faculty Construction Department regarding the collapse of the Serin-2 Apartment in the earthquake.
