An apartment building collapse killed one person and injured eight in İstanbul on Sunday, renewing fears about the resilience of buildings in a city of 16 million where seismologists warn that a massive earthquake is likely to strike by 2030.
According to the İstanbul Governor’s Office, the 36-year-old, three-story structure suddenly collapsed at 8:40 a.m. local time in the Küçükçekmece district, on the city’s European side.
One person, identified only by the initials D.C., died in the collapse, and eight others were injured. One of the two people who are in critical condition is reported to be a six-month-old baby.
The İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality released a statement about the collapse on Sunday, saying three buildings around the collapsed structure were evacuated as a precaution and that five more were evacuated for inspection.
Environment Minister Mehmet Özhaseki announced on Sunday that the building was constructed in violation of the country’s building codes, that sand was used in its construction and the additions and renovations made later weakened the durability of the building.
According to a report by the Halk TV news website on Monday, four people were detained in connection with the apartment building collapse.
The incident renewed fears about the “big one” expected to hit İstanbul, with experts emphasizing the importance of learning from these incidents and taking precautions for a major earthquake in the city.
Speaking to the Demirören news agency (DHA) on Sunday, Mehmet Fatih Altan, a professor of civil engineering, said similar incidents of suddenly collapsing buildings occur in İstanbul almost yearly.
Referring to the two or three thousand buildings at risk of collapsing in the same way, Altan added: “They are like time bombs. You never know when they will explode, but when the time comes, they cause disasters.”
Geology professor Hüseyin Öztürk also told the state-run Anadolu news agency that many buildings in İstanbul suffer from poor-quality construction.
“If a three-storey building collapses for no apparent reason, it is crucial in terms of showing what will happen to us in a possible earthquake in İstanbul. There are lessons to learn from this,” Öztürk said.
Naci Görür, an earthquake expert with Turkey’s Academy of Sciences, on Sunday criticized İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on X for inaction to prepare the city for a possible earthquake.
“If buildings collapse on their own today, I can’t even imagine what will happen in an earthquake tomorrow,” Görür said, recalling that the mayor had said he was ready to prepare the city for an earthquake in cooperation with government bodies.
Arkadaşlar, Küçükçekmece’de 3 katlı bir bina çöktü. Bu bölge depremde en fazla zarar görebilecek bir bölge. Deprem sırasında deprem dalgaları ile zemin etkileşecek ve üzerindeki tüm yapılar sınanacaktır. Bugün binalar kendiliğinden çökerse yarin depremde ne olur onu düşünemiyorum…
— Prof. Dr. Naci Görür (@nacigorur) June 2, 2024
He added that it was “thought-provoking” that despite his promise, İmamoğlu made no agreements regarding the issue and no serious, planned and sustained work has begun to make the city earthquake-resistant.
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake with an epicenter in İzmit, some 100 kilometers east of İstanbul, killed more than 17,000 people in 1999.
The number of İstanbulites has roughly doubled since then, to 16 million people.
In the event of a major earthquake in the Marmara region, not only will İstanbul be affected, but also nearby cities and industrial zones. Experts express concern about potential secondary disasters, such as fires and chemical leaks, which could exacerbate the impact of an earthquake.