Inspections of some collapsed buildings made ‘on paper’: Experts

ISTANBUL

Building inspection companies rent engineer diplomas and inspections are carried out on paper instead of on site, claimed experts, emphasizing that the destructiveness in the earthquake zone is the result of a chain of omissions.

The chain of negligence mainly caused by an inappropriate buildings inspection system is the main reason for the severe destruction that occurred in the southern provinces of Kahramanmaraş, Hatay and Adıyaman.

Stating that building inspection firms hire engineers’ diplomas instead of “really” hiring them, experts noted that the inspections that must be carried out before the building is licensed are also carried out by these “non-working engineers.”

In other words, in many of the destroyed buildings, inspections were conducted on paper, not on the site.

“Unfortunately, this picture [the destruction in the quake zone] would not exist if the companies and engineers who abused their jobs had not signed licenses instead of performing on-site inspection. We are hearing and witnessing about renting diplomas,” expert Nusret Suna stated.

“A building inspection company must employ a certain number of engineers in order to operate. Positions such as project supervisor, building inspector, assistant auditor are mandatory, but everyone knows that there are companies who rent diplomas to reduce the cost burden. Although an engineer who is responsible for the inspection is not on the site, he signs the license. Unfortunately, there is a mentality in the sector that sees a salary given to an engineer as a burden,” he explained.

Responding to the claims that even buildings inspected were destroyed in the quakes, another expert Nazmi Şahin stated that a few of the buildings that were inspected in the field and in line with the legislation collapsed.

“There are thousands of buildings that benefit from the zoning amnesty in the quake zone. We learned that only two buildings inspected in Malatya collapsed. Claims regarding inspected buildings also having collapsed are not true,” Şahin explained.

“We know that very few audited structures have collapsed.”

Engineer Cenan Mertol stated that the equipment of all the destroyed buildings have major problems, adding that if engineers inspect these problems in a real sense, they do not sign licenses.

“Everyone who signed these licenses from their homes and rented out their diplomas should be detected,” Mertol said.