Earthquake in Turkey: The "Miracle" of Erzin, the only city that has no dead. Reason

2023-02-13 20:15:07Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Erzin city

Already, a week after the seismic disaster in Turkey, the main issue there is the quality of constructions.

It's no coincidence that after revelations about shoddy work - Bloomberg cited complaints that "construction companies have been known to remove support columns from some stores and parking lots and make changes to building load-bearing walls, doors and windows."

An exception to the sad "rule" that has caused the death of more than 33,000 people, most of them in the province of Hatay, is the city of Erzin that has not a single dead person in its vicinity from the total collapse of buildings.

"Erzin is a city with 42,000 inhabitants at a distance of 15 km from Osmaniye city, 110 km from Hatay city and very close to Adana. However, we have not lost any people and we have no injuries. The only victims are residents of our city who were in the neighboring areas", the mayor of Erzin, Okes Elmasoglu, told Euronews .

Earthquake in Turkey: The "Miracle" of Erzin, the only city that has

He attributed this reality to the fact that during his term as mayor, he did not allow any construction without a permit.

"They told me 'we will build a building, will you give us permission?' and I answered: 'I don't have such authority, I can't do such a thing'", said the mayor of Erzin.

As he added, speaking to Euronews, "even if you fight this phenomenon, citizens will continue to try to build constructions without permission. If you don't have enough staff, you don't have a 100% chance of controlling this. But we had the will and we said that we will not do such a thing in our period".

According to his statements, the municipality of Erzin had imposed the corresponding fines, sending the cases to justice. " In this sense, my conscience is clear" , concluded the Turkish mayor.

What do scientists say?

Experts appreciate the efforts of the municipality and draw attention to the geological structure of the region.

Earthquake scientist Prof. Dr. Naci Görür said the following about the lack of destruction in Erzin:

"We will live in this country forever, regardless of the earthquakes - because the earthquakes will not end - but we must build earthquake-resistant settlements and cities. Erzini is an example of this. Making settlements earthquake-proof is best. In this respect, what the mayor said is true."

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