After the earthquake happened in İzmir, Türkiye started discussions again about negligence and the building stock in the cities. Construction Engineer Aycan Fenercioğlu talked on Dim TV about the issue and drew attention to the importance of urban transformation. Today, Bayram Ali Çeltik, Branch Head of Antalya Chamber of Geology Engineers made a statement. Çeltik mentioned that Antalya was also under the “earthquake hazard.” Additionally, he said, “if the earthquake in İzmir had happened in Antalya, this would have caused a disaster.” Çeltik continued his statement as follows: “I’m sorry to tell you that there is not a sufficient scientific study in this respect in Antalya. Scientific men should be supported concerning this issue. While we are unable to understand the fault lines in land in full today, we have a beauty like Mediterranean jus near us. For example, we talk less about the fault lines in the Mediterranean Region since we do not have sufficient data. We have only systematic former studies in this respect. Earthquake leaves marks on everything and everywhere. We, as being scientists, can make predictions by examining such marks but this study is not sufficient. Considering the present data, even the active faults have not been studied sufficiently and on the other hand, there is not enough study on the Mediterranean Region. Big earthquakes happened in Antalya in the past. We cannot say anything about time but it will repeat itself in time. In the systematic studies, we just estimate the location of the faults and then, dig. When we dig, we form an opinion about to what extent the fault has moved. According to our estimates, studies for Antalya are insufficient. Antalya is under the threat and hazard of earthquake. In case an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 happens in the tourism city Antalya, a wide range of destructions will occur. For example, we would not save ourselves with collapse of only 20 buildings in case of an earth of magnitude 6.3. Thousands of buildings may collapse. Although building inspection companies receive payment, they do not do their jobs and if they examine the buildings according to the relevant standards and criteria, we can prevent such devastating destructions. There are tilted buildings in Antalya despite the fact that earthquake has not happened. There are buildings where occupancy is not possible although earthquake has not happened. Destructive earthquake happened in Antalya in the past and will happen in the future as well. We cannot estimate its time.”
