90 percent level has been reached in the Earthquake Building and Inventories Project in Tekirdağ

In Tekirdağ, the 'Earthquake Building and Inventories Project' was launched 1 year ago with the initiatives of NKÜ and Tekirdağ Governorship. Within the scope of the project, Çorlu district was first selected as the pilot region, and the scope was expanded in the ongoing process. With the support of Tekirdağ Metropolitan Municipality and AFAD, scanning was started on 230 thousand buildings. While the 90 percent level was reached in the scans carried out by a team of 50 people, it was determined that between 2 and 3 thousand buildings could be seriously damaged or collapse altogether in a possible earthquake.

NKÜ Construction Affairs and Technical Department Head Dr. Lecturer Ahmet Bal pointed out that Tekirdağ is on the North Anatolian Fault Line and said, "As you know, the most active fault in our country is the North Anatolian Fault Line. This is a fault line that divides our country from Van to Tekirdağ, and many of the major earthquakes in Türkiye occur on this fault line. In the last 100 years, or even more than 100 years, there has not been a significant earthquake in Tekirdağ on this fault line. And "Tekirdağ is less than 10 kilometers away from this fault, and when we look at the population, approximately 2 million people are around this fault line. Therefore, when there was this sensitivity, Tekirdağ Governorship and Namık Kemal University accelerated the building inventory project with the contributions of Tekirdağ Metropolitan Municipality and AFAD," he said.

'WE ARE AT THE 90 PERCENT LEVEL'

Dr. said that scans can be done quickly with the software created by Tekirdağ Metropolitan Municipality Earthquake Department within the scope of the project. Bal said, "Within the scope of this project, Çorlu district was actually examined as the center in the first stage. Çorlu also had a very good project archive. Later, this project was expanded for 230 thousand buildings, especially with the use of the Canadian Seismic Scanning Method, under the guidance and academic consultancy of Istanbul Technical University and Namık Kemal University. The Earthquake Department of Tekirdağ Metropolitan Municipality also created a very good software for this. Thanks to this software, we can inspect and observe the buildings very quickly." "Currently, our team number is over 15. These works are carried out with a total of 50 people. AFAD and Tekirdağ Metropolitan Municipality have great support in this regard. Of course, the university is leading this work with its academic mission. We are now at 90 percent stage in the project," he said.

'IT HAS BEEN DETERMINED THAT 2-3 THOUSAND BUILDINGS MAY COLLAPSE'

Stating that they aim to scan a total of 230 thousand buildings in the region, Bal said, "We are aiming for 230 thousand buildings. Our first goal within the scope of this target is to identify the buildings that will experience what we call wholesale collapse or complete collapse in an earthquake, and we have actually identified these buildings to a large extent. It has been determined that approximately 2 to 3 thousand of our buildings may collapse during an earthquake. Tekirdağ is a place at serious earthquake risk and there has not been a significant earthquake for 100 years. There is a serious earthquake risk in this region and this "It has been determined that when an earthquake occurs, probably 2-3 thousand of our buildings will be seriously damaged and collapse altogether," he said.

'WE CAN SAVE IT BY REINFORCEMENT'

Dr. Stating that buildings that will suffer from possible structural damage can be strengthened with early measures, Bal said, "Actually, one of our goals is to identify the buildings that will collapse altogether. For these, both the Directorate of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change and the municipality can probably recommend urban transformation. But in our buildings other than this, there may be a possibility of structural damage or damage to non-structural elements. We are actually thinking of reducing this damage with the work we carry out in our laboratory, with various strengthening techniques. We can definitely save the damage, especially in non-structural elements, by strengthening some of them. "With the damping techniques we apply, especially the active use of dampers, even buildings that may collapse completely can be restored and continue to be used," he said.