Fast debris removal prevents expert examining

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The expert report related to the Ebrar housing estate that collapsed in the February 6 earthquakes in Maraş city center states that the most critical findings could not be determined due to the rapid removal of the debris.

The report of the four-person expert team that examined the reasons for the collapse of many buildings in the housing estate states that rapid removal of the debris ruled out the possibility of determining whether columns and load-bearing systems had been cut or not, reported Sibel Yükler from T24. 

Steel bars couldn't be analyzed

The report found that the concrete quality was in line with the requirements in the project in a significant portion of the foundation, but the concrete quality in the rest of the building was well below the values in the project.

After the earthquake, core samples were taken from some buildings, but no analysis could be performed due to the dispersal of the steel bars within the samples.

Independent expert Prof. Dr. Can Balkaya, who reviewed the report, considered it a major deficiency that the expert report did not evaluate the structural system project. Balkaya emphasized that the liquefaction in the region was not investigated, and a separate examination related to soil properties must be conducted.

Nearly 1400 people lost their lives

Ebrar Housing Estate, built as cooperative apartment buildings in the center of Maraş between 1997 and 2013, consisted of 22 blocks.

In AFAD's 2020 report prepared for Maraş, attention was drawn to the liquefaction of the ground in the area where Ebrar Housing Estate is located and the vulnerability of the buildings to collapse in a possible earthquake.

Many buildings in the Ebrar Housing Estate collapsed, and nearly 1400 people lost their lives in the earthquakes on February 6, just 3 years later.

The Kahramanmaraş Chief Public Prosecutor's Office requested the expert report from the members of Selçuk University as part of the investigation into the collapse in the Ebrar Housing Estate. The report of the four-person expert team dated March 19 was included in the prosecutor's file.

Liquefaction of the ground not examined

In the earthquake, 4 floors of the 9-story Block K and 7 floors of the 10-story Serdar Bey Apartment in Ebrar Housing Estate were buried underground. However, the expert report did not present details about the examination of the damage caused by the underground water level, and it did not include any information about an investigation into ground liquefaction.

(AS/PE)