Building inspection demands rise by 90 percent in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Building inspection demands have increased by 90 percent in Istanbul after the quakes, while some materials such as sea sand, seashells and newspapers have been found in the interior structure of some concrete samples.

After the earthquake that hit the south of the country, residents of Istanbul in which experts have been expecting a large-scale earthquake for a long time, have started applying for their buildings to be inspected.

In the laboratory, it was seen that materials such as seashells, sea stones and newspapers, Styrofoam and wood were found in the samples, most of which were taken from old buildings.

Laboratory officials reported that applications increased in new buildings as well as old ones.

“There is an abnormal 90 percent increase in the inspection requests coming to us,” stated Menekşe Perdi, an official from the concrete and floor laboratory of the Kadıköy municipality.

“Citizens residing in newly constructed buildings should not be afraid if their buildings have a certificate regarding concrete inspections and ground survey,” Perdi explained.

“When our citizen makes an application, our municipal teams in the field take concrete samples from certain points of the building. Later, the work is made here and converted into a file. We upload the necessary information of the buildings to the ministry system. If a building has a risky structure, we hand it over to the Land Registry Directorate. If demolition is needed, the process begins,” she stated.

Reminding that classifications such as c8 and c10 express the carrying capacity of concrete, Perdi noted that the minimum concrete class that should be used in places qualified as earthquake zones is c25.

“We frequently come across pieces such as c8 or c10 concrete types along with sea sand and seashells inside the samples of old buildings,” she noted.