Debris of quake-hit cultural structures to be reused

ANTAKYA

The debris of historical buildings that collapsed during the Feb. 6, 2023 earthquake in the southern province of Antakya has been preserved at a cultural debris site. The separated parts will be used during the reconstruction of these structures.

Several historical buildings in the city were either destroyed or severely damaged during the earthquake. The Culture and Tourism Ministry took action to save the registered historical cultural assets and established the Hatay Disaster Area Excavation Directorate 20 days after the disaster.

Art historians, archaeologists, architects, restorer architects, civil engineers and volunteer students have been working on historical buildings in the region for more than a year. The head of the Hatay Disaster Area Excavation Directorate Associate Professor Muhammet Arslan explained the details of the process to daily Milliyet.

Stating that they worked with a team of approximately 150 people, Arslan said that the work was planned in three stages and said:

“In the first stage, the goal was to save the quality materials in the monumental works and we achieved this goal. Architectural decorations, especially inscriptions, altars, pulpits, wooden door wings, icons, etc… We took them out of the rubble. In this sense, we saved a total of 550 qualified materials in Antakya.”

Noting that Antakya has 720 registered cultural assets and all were damaged, Arslan said, “60 percent of these assets were completely ruined. We created two areas for these wrecks, one is 66 hectares and the other is 68 hectares. We named this area as the 'Cultural Debris Dumping and Sorting' area. We brought registered residences and shops to this research area and separated them. For example, all the unique elements of a house that was taken, from cut stone to rubble stone, from wooden parts to iron parts, were separated by our scientific team and taken under protection.”

Stating that in the final stage, they ensured that the heavily or moderately damaged structures remained intact until their restoration process, Arslan said, “We carried out suspension and strengthening works on these works with heavy steel. Precautions were taken to avoid an aftershock or natural event.”