After the powerful earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria, entire blocks of flats were destroyed.

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The earthquake in Turkey and Syria 94

Are there buildings that can withstand such a strong earthquake?

"The pictures we saw are terrible. Entire neighborhoods have collapsed. We engineers don't work with the Richter scale, we use other scales. However a building is designed, an impact can always happen that exceeds the design load. Then it can destruction," said Prof. Dimitar Kislyakov from the National Center for Seismic Engineering at the UASG in the "Bulgaria morning" studio.

He pointed out to Bulgaria ON AIR that construction is a responsibility and is strictly regulated in all stages.

"The architect foresees the construction of the building. The task of the structural engineer is to ensure the standing of the building. Sometimes changes are necessary. We work with strict regulations, there is no room for arbitrariness," explained the guest. 

Regarding the quality implementation of the developed project, there are also control mechanisms.

"The regulatory framework is developing. These mechanisms are not being updated as intensively as reality requires. In Japan, this modernization is much more intensive," Prof. Kislyakov also said.

The guest added that competent design in the construction of new buildings can provide maximum protection in case of disasters.

"Qualitative research work - you need to know where the building is, on what foundation, as well as competent design and quality implementation. Panel buildings are a different construction system. In 2021, a large project was completed with the beneficiary General Directorate "Fire Safety and Protection of population" to the Ministry of the Interior, in which a disaster risk management plan was developed," said Prof. Kislyakov.

According to him, the problems of panel buildings are related to the fact that people make reconstructions on their own, such as knocking out load-bearing walls, beams, i.e.

arbitrarily intervene and change structural elements.

"This is dangerous. It could have serious consequences. One of the ways of control is to prohibit such reconstructions if there is no opinion of a structural engineer. There is a lot of talk about the rehabilitation of the building stock. In the sense of science, this rehabilitation should have been combined with a constructive survey and possibly to carry out the remediation", Prof. Kislyakov also pointed out.

According to him, the design and implementation is carried out according to the regulations, but the old building stock, which was not designed and implemented with anti-seismic requirements in mind, remains problematic.

"

Turkey is a seismic region

, especially this Eastern Anatolian fault and its branches are a very dangerous structure. This is known. The problems in such cases are many. The presence of a National School there leads to an adequate response. We also had a school for decades. It can still be rebuilt. We are trying to make it possible to build a seismic engineering laboratory complex," the guest announced.

The earthquake in Turkey and Syria