Login
Registered users
What topics can architects address following the violent earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6, 2023, with two strong tremors that killed more than 50,000 people and injured more than 120,000? What guidelines should be followed to properly design a building in this geographical area?
THE PLAN gathered the thoughts of two designers from the affected areas: Emre Arolat, founder of the Turkish studio Emre Arolat Architecture, based in Istanbul, London and New York, and Wesam Al Asali, Syrian architect and researcher at the IE School of Architecture and Design in Segovia, Spain.
What are the most important characteristics of the Turkish territory to be taken into account when designing a new building? And the main issues related with the maintenance of existing buildings?
Turkey covers a territory more than twice that of Germany and two and a half times that of Italy in terms of surface area, and this land, like many other countries in the world, has different characteristics in terms of seismicity. Yet, stating that almost the entire Turkey is quite risky due to various fault lines is not all that wrong. From this perspective, earthquake risk should be considered as one of the most important design inputs in any project, regardless of the region where it is located. Before all, the initial point of any project should be carrying out a detailed and qualified soil survey in the project site; the architectural design should not force the structural system with excessive demands, and the structural system should be designed by competent engineers with advanced engineering experience, who observe the ground data thoroughly. Construction in fair conformity with its project after this elaborated work, using reasonable and qualified materials, and inspecting it through appropriate workmanship inputs and universal standards arise as very essential criteria.
It has been said that building codes, last updated in 2018, are weakly enforced. In your opinion, are national regulations adequate, enough detailed and up-to-date?
It is necessary to start this discussion by emphasizing the overall state politics implemented in the country and widespread migration movements evolved in parallel with these politics as a result of which the rapid urbanization processes emerged. Then, matters such as site selection for the construction, the soil condition of the selected site, and to what extent the condition of the soil is considered in engineering studies should be taken into account. In the meantime, as I mentioned shortly before, matters such as the design of the structural system, quality of the materials used during the construction, how meticulosity both the method of construction and the inspections have been carried on, and whether any intervention effecting the integrity of the structural system has been done after the construction should be investigated and discussed in detail.
The latest regulation published in 2018 should also be examined in this context. In fact, regulations are written documents, after all. Yet, implementation is big as life. I am one of those who have the opinion that the regulations in Turkey are very qualified when compared to the others in the rest of the world. However, I think that both the design and construction as well as inspection phases contain serious neglects and weaknesses. Considering this, my point is not that the issue is merely a series of technical problems. The subject of earthquake is essentially a very broad political concern. For instance, we have collectively witnessed that it is impossible to solve this problem with the Building Inspection Institutions established without the obligatory professional liability insurance. Many interconnected legal and procedural gaps like this should be eliminated before it is too late, and in this context, a kind of communal mobilization should be started.
Speaking about the two major earthquakes occurred at the beginning of February (measuring 7.8 and 7.5 on the magnitude scale), BBC professor David Alexander, an expert in emergency planning and management at University College London, said: "the maximum intensity for this earthquake was violent but not necessarily enough to bring well-constructed buildings down". Do you agree with this statement?
Sure, I totally agree with Prof. David Alexander. And yes, this was one of the most massive earthquakes of the last century. However, we observed that the buildings, where the proper engineering service was provided and the production was meticulously applied, did not collapse, though there were minor damages. This is valid for all residential areas in the earthquake zone. Although it is a very cliché sentence, it is useful to repeat it: It is not the earthquake that kills people, it is the unqualified building that is not earthquake resistant.
Up to 75,000 buildings across the affected earthquake zone in southern Turkey have been given construction amnesties over the years, according to Pelin Pınar Giritlioğlu, Istanbul head of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects' Chamber of City Planners. Beside political decisions, is there also a problem of cultural awareness among common people?
Many people in the country nowadays talk about the immorality of the contractors. Some contractors, whose buildings were destroyed, are being arrested. However, the problem is unfortunately not solved by these arrestments, because they are not the only culprits of this morbid production chain. It can even be said that considering this process, which is almost a can of worms, they are the lowest rung of the ladder. From this point of view, it would not be wrong to use the term “collective complicity” in relation to the form of production that has been valid in this sector for the last fifty years.
Irresponsibility, negligence, illegal behavior, incompetence or ignorance, all awful habits that dominate all segments of society, from the most ordinary citizen to the highest ranked administrative actors, appear either one after another, sometimes all at once. Citizens who intentionally manipulate the information on the land register of the property they have purchased and do not request for a building license or certificate of occupancy; property owners who are aware that the apartment they live in will probably collapse even in a small earthquake but continue to inhabit in it, who make renovations by ignoring scientific facts, who block the implementation of urban transformation just to earn a little more income and evaluate the contractors according to the amount of square meters they offer instead of the quality of the building; bureaucrats who profit from these mistakes; engineers who do not hesitate to approve momentous buildings despite having scanty experience; local administrators who grant approval by ignoring faulty elements due to lack of the essential competence or downright negligence although they should have checked the projects those engineers prepared; contractors who raise buildings based on those projects along with the cheapest rock bottom workforce and materials of questionable quality; building inspection companies that receive payment without even visiting the construction sites although they should control those contractors; administrators who play ostrich and give utilization permit to all these unqualified or inappropriate finished constructions; and the political power that blatantly legitimizes this system, legalizes all this disgrace in a moment for the sake of collecting votes, and announces the construction amnesties...
The systems regarding production and inspection processes in the construction industry in Turkey should be considered as a whole, and new legal regulations that will eliminate the disorder that has been sustaining for decades should be introduced as soon as possible. In the world we live in, it is not meaningful to comprehend any system from a naive perspective, such as the necessity for all actors to be moral, and to build the critical ground on such concepts. Instead, it is essential to enforce the regulations within the system related to construction and inspection, whose sustainability will not be disputed.
The earthquake left thousands of families homeless. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimates at least 1.5 million people are still inside the seismic zone, but with nowhere to live. Is there any initiative such as temporary accommodation in prefabricated villages or in permanent structures normally used for other purposes?
The most important coordinator regarding the earthquake is the State of the Republic of Turkey and its technical institutions. AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency), which is Turkey’s disaster management and international aid agency, is the country's competent and authorized organization for disasters and emergencies. Its main mission is to perform the necessary efforts for the effective disaster and emergency process management, to ensure coordination among relevant institutions and organizations, and to make policies in this field. Within this scope, among the duties of this institution are delivering temporary shelter units in the form of tents or containers to the places in need in the most urgent way, providing and establishing the necessary infrastructures, and coordinating the settlement of earthquake victims. In fact, aids in these categories from abroad via donations are also coordinated by AFAD. However, it would not be misleading to point out that in this respect significant coordination deficiencies occurred in the last earthquake and that this coordination has not been fully achieved even though more than a month has passed since the earthquake.
Another state institution, TOKI (Housing Development Administration of Turkey), is an establishment having the capacity to produce new permanent housing very quickly considering international standards. However, when we examine this institution’s performance in the last twenty years, we encounter that there is a very unqualified production in planning and architecture, and thus the quality of life in these newly formed housing districts is also very poor.
It is estimated that between Turkey and Syria approximately 214,000 buildings have collapsed. Which are the main points that should be included in a reconstruction program?
Trying to produce a formula that could cover every city or region for such a reconstruction program would not be meaningful. As a matter of fact, each different region has its own characteristics and priorities that should not be forgotten. Therefore, such renewal processes should be coordinated in a multi-layered and participatory way as much as possible and should not be redundantly hastened. For instance, currently we head up the process of establishing a GIP, an independent, voluntary public interest group that is called “Ortak Akıl - Antakya / Common Mindset - Antakya” with some architect and urban planner friends and our main target is to bring out a sustainable strategy to redesign the masterplan of this ancient city.
In fact, the city is not merely a physical but also a cultural and social organism. You cannot create it by simply designing the physical structure. This formation also requires a strong and willed administrative establishment. Within this scope, we founded a work group consisting of earth scientists, experts from related engineering branches, sociologists and anthropologists, professionals of education, actors of the cultural industry in various routes, physicians, psychologists, and definitely past and potential users of the city, relevant non-governmental organizations and thus leaders of different religions existing in a region like Antakya, and we carry on our work in this framework.
Another issue that needs to be taken into consideration in such processes is that the planning strategy I mentioned above should be designed in accordance with the Open Planning principles. Professor İlhan Tekeli, one of the participants of Common Mindset Antakya platform, describes this strategy by emphasizing that for the democratic perspective developing today open planning is participatory and negotiated plans that do not exclude people, and do not impose upon society. Thus, open planning would assess opportunities and threats, when necessary, by remaining open all the time, so that decisions can be made adequately in due course. Aa a result, a sense of community and dedication feeling would emerge at the city level through this planning, which gives importance to public space and life, and where life values related to the society are formed together.
What are the most important characteristics of the Syrian territory to be taken into account when designing a new building?
Like many building regulations in the region, the construction of new buildings in Syria is usually led by building developers and contractors driven by maximizing their profit which can be at the expense of cheap construction materials. The Syrian building laws focus on quantity, not quality (maximum square meters, maximum heights, minimum setbacks, etc.). While these regulations are essential, they were poorly complimented by conditions and revisions of the design and construction of houses to ensure quality control, building safety, and preparedness to serve as homes for families.
Further, a considerable construction market in Syria is led by informal and illegal construction. Almost half of the built environment in Syrian cities is made informally. This has also been accelerated during the last ten years of conflict due to mass displacement to cities and security chaos. The informal construction in Syria is led by rules of thumb regarding reinforcement and material uses, making it very hard to assess when it comes to natural hazards. Unfortunately, informal housing is becoming the only solution for housing for many Syrians who don’t have access to the formal housing market.
Prior to earthquake occurred in February, around 15.3 million people in Syria were already in need of humanitarian assistance due to the civil war. What is the current situation of existing and historical buildings throughout the country?
More than 10,000 buildings in Syria were affected by the earthquake, and about 0,5 million displaced persons from the quake; many of these families have already been displaced by the war. The damage is concentrated in Northern Syria, namely in Aleppo and Idlib. In Northwest Syria, the earthquake has damaged entire neighbourhoods in villages such as Sarmada and Dana in Idlib.
In Aleppo, the earthquake affected many historical buildings with different grades. Part of the main wall of the famous castle of Aleppo collapsed, and so did many other historical buildings, such as Khan al Saboun in the historical centre. Many buildings were partially damaged during the war and did not withstand the earthquake. Historical sites in other cities were also affected, such as Al Marqab Castle in Tartous and Shmaimis Castle in Hama.
It has been said that Turkish building codes are weakly enforced. What about Syrian national regulations?
Both codes in Syria and Turkey introduced seismic building regulations in the 2000s, with many buildings built before seismic law and never retrofitted. Those constructions that were made after the law's introduction followed the catch-me-if-you-can approach between contractors and the state. State architects sometimes visited the construction site to ensure the implementation of the correct materials and design for the seismic-resilient building. Amid corruption, a large number of new-built housing between 2000 and 2011, and a poor understanding of seismic design, such an approach resulted in a weak implementation similar to the case of Turkey.
What are the main differences between government-controlled areas and areas that are controlled by rebel groups?
As I stated before, the main bulk of housing in Syria is built illegally and informally, bypassing the state and building without any permission to revise plans. Informal construction in Syria has been the only accessible market for displaced families. It increased exponentially during the last ten years of war; many of these houses were affected by the earthquake in Aleppo.
In the opposition-controlled area, the story is not very different but also a bit more bitter. Northwest Syria has been a no-boots-on-ground zone for international NGOs for the last ten years. In their abandonment, many displaced families arriving in the region desperately needed housing - some are still in informal camps. This mass displacement movement has resulted in the mass construction of houses in Idlib, Harem, Ezaz and many other small towns, made mainly by local contractors and without architects and engineers. Many of these neighbourhoods were heavily affected by the earthquake.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 100,000 households have reportedly been displaced across affected areas in Syria. Is there any initiative such as temporary accommodations?
Local Syrian NGOs in the Northwest are doing what is in their capacity to respond to the catastrophe. Organizations such as SARD (Syrian Association for Relief and Development) and Molham Team have provided donated tents and supplies to affected people, supported by direct donations or funds from international NGOs. Aid is shyly arriving in the Northwest due to difficulties of accessibility (from the government-controlled area or Turkey). The organisations' local effort is limited to their capacity, and there is an immense lack of resources to respond to shelter, sanitation, and nutrition challenges in the region.
It is estimated that between Turkey and Syria approximately 214,000 buildings have collapsed. Which are the main points that should be included in a reconstruction program?
In general, post-disaster reconstruction programs cannot be prescribed to defined steps but are open to different scenarios and possibilities. The primary key is to ensure an in-depth participatory approach that moves beyond cosmetic procedures and considers local knowledge, materials and building techniques. There is an opportunity to start this process in northwest Syria, where local organizations have worked for years in the region responding to the need for shelters during the war. International aid should collaborate closely with these actors in the short term to assure the accessibility of every family to dignified housing. In the longer term, and concerning the Syrian case, any reconstruction effort will be conditioned on the political solution in the country. Unfortunately, there were no post-war reconstruction plans in Syria for the last five years, despite the de-escalation of the war in many zones, including Damascus and Homs. The Syrian government treats many war-torn areas as real estate opportunities, not an emergency to respond to. External aid is minimum due to the international community's relationship with the Syrian regime, and the sanctions on the regime are making other alternatives very difficult to implement. Unless the political solution in Syria advances, I see no tangible reconstruction plans happening soon.
Individual photo credits are included in each gallery image
