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Another disaster in Istanbul

clivehorridge

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As on numerous occasions since 2014, I’ve had the pleasure (sarcasm) of spending the week working in the Asian side of Istanbul in the district of Maltepe.

The TV has been on in my hotel room each evening simply for a bit of company, albeit that there’s very little that I understand, everything on it is in Turkish, even all movies are dubbed.

In a phone-call from my wife (in Romania) on Wednesday night, she asked me if I was affected by the apartment block collapse which had happened in Istanbul that afternoon.

I told her I knew nothing about it, that I’d watched the pictures on the news channel, and there was nothing that looked like a bloc collapse reported. After assuring her I was safe, I switched to the Qatar-based Aljazeera news channel (in English) and sure enough, in the next district to us Kartal, an 8 storey apartment bloc had collapsed killing 10 and injuring 13 others (including a 5 year old child) who were dragged from the rubble, some of which are likely to lose their lives due to serious internal crushing injuries. There are still more buried in the rubble, rescuers can hear their cries and screams while they’re desperately trying to get to them.

Apparently, the blocks were built in 1992 as 5 floor buildings. Since then, they have been extended to 8 floors, illegally. There’s about 6 blocks in that locality that have had this illegal modification from 5 floors to 8 and I imagine hundreds or thousands more illegal buildings all over the city.

Life is cheap here, so think on next time you feel the building rules and regs are too restrictive where you live, at least you’re not at risk of collapse as a consequence of some greedy land-lord cheating the system.

RIP to the deceased, and sympathies to injured and all affected.

https://news.sky.com/story/istanbul...-girl-5-pulled-from-rubble-in-turkey-11630839

 
It's a shame there aren't options other than like for posts, as like isn't really appropriate. Thanks for posting, when you see some of the stuff people get up to, even in the UK, you can see why we have building regulations. They don't always make sense, but at least we have them so things like this hopefully don't happen.
 
Incidentally, the advice now in an earthquake or possible buildng collapse is to try and position yourself under something like a door lintle as it will have an RSJ in it so is likely to offer more protection.
 
Life is cheap In some of these Countries Clive, Building Regs/Health and safety mean nothing.... Im always staggered at the total disregard for life, Especially on the roads.... Another sad and Tragic story..
 
If Allah wills it . . . . . . . . . .

Try driving in Morocco !

Bob.

Well, I’m not convinced that Allah wills man’s total disregard for the value and sanctity of human life, but who would know?

Driving anywhere these days is more of a challenge than an easy task, but we do love challenges, don’t we:lol:
 
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No doubt they have building regs but if they’re ignored due to profit margins or whatever reason then it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
Where was the similar disastrous collapse a few years ago where the building floors and walls had been packed with old paint tins?
 
No doubt they have building regs but if they’re ignored due to profit margins or whatever reason then it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
Where was the similar disastrous collapse a few years ago where the building floors and walls had been packed with old paint tins?

Oh, there’s regs alright, almost carbon-copy the UK and Europe in terms of foundations and structural strength parameters...

They’re just generally ignored, but the very worst thing is many have an “approved” stamp on the drawings, from the State Inspectorate...

Go figure, it doesn’t take much imagination to guess what’s going on, does it?
 
As on numerous occasions since 2014, I’ve had the pleasure (sarcasm) of spending the week working in the Asian side of Istanbul in the district of Maltepe.

The TV has been on in my hotel room each evening simply for a bit of company, albeit that there’s very little that I understand, everything on it is in Turkish, even all movies are dubbed.

In a phone-call from my wife (in Romania) on Wednesday night, she asked me if I was affected by the apartment block collapse which had happened in Istanbul that afternoon.

I told her I knew nothing about it, that I’d watched the pictures on the news channel, and there was nothing that looked like a bloc collapse reported. After assuring her I was safe, I switched to the Qatar-based Aljazeera news channel (in English) and sure enough, in the next district to us Kartal, an 8 storey apartment bloc had collapsed killing 10 and injuring 13 others (including a 5 year old child) who were dragged from the rubble, some of which are likely to lose their lives due to serious internal crushing injuries. There are still more buried in the rubble, rescuers can hear their cries and screams while they’re desperately trying to get to them.

Apparently, the blocks were built in 1992 as 5 floor buildings. Since then, they have been extended to 8 floors, illegally. There’s about 6 blocks in that locality that have had this illegal modification from 5 floors to 8 and I imagine hundreds or thousands more illegal buildings all over the city.

Life is cheap here, so think on next time you feel the building rules and regs are too restrictive where you live, at least you’re not at risk of collapse as a consequence of some greedy land-lord cheating the system.

RIP to the deceased, and sympathies to injured and all affected.

https://news.sky.com/story/istanbul...-girl-5-pulled-from-rubble-in-turkey-11630839

That's terrible Clive, BTW did you check if your hotel had extra floors?
 
That's terrible Clive, BTW did you check if your hotel had extra floors?

Ha, ha! It's not so old, and it's always been 10 floors! But who knows, maybe the design was for 5 floors, who would know?
 
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