The beginning of this week in Turkey was marked by very sad events: on February 6, two strongest tremors of magnitude 7.5 and 7.8 degrees occurred in the southeast of Turkey, which were accompanied by hundreds of repeated earthquakes of lower intensity (aftershocks).
Hundreds of buildings have been damaged or destroyed. However, experts clarify that many buildings that were badly damaged by the earthquake were erected before 2000, when the authorities of the Republic of Turkey introduced new building codes and launched a system of compulsory insurance of buildings against earthquakes. Since then, developers have been obliged to build houses exclusively with a «seismoskeleton».
Destroyed buildings are mostly not earthquake-resistant, said Mustafa Erdik, a well-known expert in this field, a civil engineer from Bosphorus University.
Most of the territory of Turkey is more or less affected by aftershocks; therefore, it is especially important to carefully check the documentation and ensure that the building is earthquake-resistant when selecting housing for purchase. It is advisable to choose houses built after 2000.
This earthquake turned out to be the strongest in the last 80 years on the territory of Turkey. The previous time, especially strong tremors were observed on the territory of Izmir province on October 30, 2020. The recent earthquake in Dyuzdzha also caused considerable damage, although it was much less destructive; in this area, the authorities offered local residents an interest-free loan for housing, in addition to mandatory compensation.