ISTE'S POST-EARTHQUAKE ANALYSES WERE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED BY APRIL 5TH.
The technical support collaboration agreement signed between Iskenderun Technical University (ISTE) and Iskenderun Municipality has been successfully completed.
The collaboration agreement for technical support signed between Iskenderun Technical University (ISTE) and Iskenderun Municipality has been successfully completed. Within the framework of the protocol signed last September, approximately 80 buildings in Iskenderun were examined by a team of experts consisting of ISTE Civil Engineering faculty members in order to inspect and approve the performance analysis and reinforcement projects of buildings identified as moderately damaged following the destructive earthquakes centred in Kahramanmaraş on February 6th.
Faculty members from ISTE meticulously inspected all buildings identified as moderately damaged by Building Inspection Companies, starting from the basement and ground floors, providing the building authorities with detailed information regarding the necessary coring, scraping, X-ray numbers and locations, as well as the number and depth of soil borings in accordance with earthquake regulations. They also discussed damages in the buildings and reinforcement recommendations with the authorities. Subsequently, the prepared projects, analyses, and laboratory results were carefully reviewed to address any identified deficiencies, leading to the approval phase.
The ongoing works within the protocol in Iskenderun were well-received, and upon requests from individuals, ISTE also carried out the same procedures for many moderately damaged buildings in the districts of Antakya, Defne, Arsuz, Kırıkhan, Samandağ, and Dörtyol.
Commenting on the concluded protocol and the conducted works, Rector Prof. Dr. Tolga Depci stated, "I would like to express my gratitude to our esteemed faculty members, Prof. Dr. Murat Örnek (Geotechnical, Soil Mechanics), Prof. Dr. Umur Korkut Sevim (Building Materials, Construction Technologies, Concrete), and Assistant Professor Selçuk Kaçın (Structural Dynamics, Earthquake, Numerical Modeling), who, with their dedicated efforts, worked tirelessly day and night without ever leaving our university and Hatay since the initial moments of the earthquake until now, completing all tasks within the specified time frame and ensuring that our citizens did not suffer."
In addition to the collaboration agreement, core samples taken from collapsed buildings of the Hatay Chief Public Prosecutor's Office were also analyzed at ISTE. Under the leadership of Rector Prof. Dr. Tolga Depci, to avoid any delays in sending samples to universities in other cities and considering the presence of a technical university in the region, ISTE promptly acquired the necessary testing and measurement equipment and took on the task of expertise. The core tests, due to the sensitivity of the issue, were conducted personally and free of charge by Rector Prof. Dr. Tolga Depci (MSc in Soil and Rock Mechanics, PhD in Advanced Materials) and the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Prof. Dr. Umur Korkut Sevim (Building Materials, Construction Technologies, Concrete), along with the ISTE-BTM team, and the fees per core, as approved by the prosecutor's office, were covered. The tests were personally supervised, and only the data obtained from the device was directly sent to the Hatay Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.
In conclusion, Rector Prof. Dr. Tolga Depci stated, "Since taking office, we have been identifying and trying to complete the deficiencies in the laboratories and central laboratories that should be present in the departments of a technical university, as well as the necessary equipment. We promptly provided ISTE with the analysis equipment needed in the region after the earthquake. We are always here, under any circumstances, standing by our nation.
