Why office building in heavily affected Turkish city is almost the only one to remain completely intact | Abroad

While other buildings collapsed like a house of cards, the gray-blue building with the inscription TMMOB is still standing. It is one of the few structures that survived the quakes almost unscathed. The photo of the intact office building is therefore going viral on social media, the German publishing group writes Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND).

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The image was posted on Twitter by Mahir Ulutas, the president of Turkey’s Chamber of Electrical Engineers (EMO). “No more words are needed,” writes Ulutas. “Using science and technology, we can build structures that can withstand such a powerful earthquake. As long as science and technology are used for the benefit of people!”

Ulutas alludes to the abuses in the Turkish construction sector. Many buildings in Turkey are not earthquake resistant and illegal buildings are simply tolerated. Many agree that the problem has gotten worse since Erdogan’s presidency.

The intact office building in Kahramanmaras does comply with all building regulations. The complex is owned by the TMMOB – the Association of Turkish Chambers of Engineers and Architects. The organization is not apolitical. In 2013, she supported the Gezi protests, after which the association was no longer involved in the implementation of urban plans. The three leaders of the association – Mücella Yapıcı, Tayfun Kahraman and Can Atalay – were even later convicted and imprisoned for participating in the Gezi protests.

But the association did not keep quiet and continued to warn that the tolerance policy with regard to construction violations would have fatal consequences. “It will mean that our cities (…) will be turned into cemeteries and coffins will be carried from our homes,” said then-chairman Cemal Gökçe.

For example, a car factory in Bursa and Hatay airport were built directly on a fault line. The architects were right: the massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake tore the runways in half, rendering the airport and highway unusable.

“Buildings built according to regulations do not collapse. We engineers say: a building can be damaged, but it must not collapse,” Gökçe told the German ‘Tagesschau’. Unfortunately, the dramatic events in Turkey have tragically proved the engineers and architects right.