Thousands of Buildings Collapsed in One Turkish City. Thousands More May Have to Come Down.
Major faults
Turkey
Feb. 6
earthquakes
Antakya
Syria
Mr. Genes, the engineering professor, said the destruction drove home the importance of listening to scientists. Ten years ago, Mr. Genes was part of a team that analyzed the potential damage to Antakya from an earthquake and found that many of the buildings it assessed were vulnerable to collapse.
TURKEY
7.8-magnitude
earthquake
Antakya
TURKEY
mediterranean SEA
SYRIA
Area of
detail
SYRIA
100 miles
100 miles
TURKEY
Area of
detail
SYRIA
TURKEY
7.8-magnitude
earthquake
Antakya
SYRIA
“The politicians didn’t consider what the science is saying,” Mr. Genes said. “They always considered how they could get political support. For that reason, on very bad soil conditions, just for people to be able to earn huge money in a short period of time, they allowed them to construct 10-story buildings in Antakya, or more than 10. It could be possible, but you have to make huge investments in the foundation or soil improvement.”
After the earthquake, many of the buildings the group assessed as vulnerable did, in fact, collapse.