This is a building collapsing in Turkey
hours after a series of earthquakes and aftershocks
on February 6th.
First, the bottom floor crumbled.
Then the rest of the building came down on top of it
in what's known as a "pancake collapse".
Thousands of buildings near the epicenter
in southern Turkey and northern Syria
tumbled straight down in a similar way.
The intensity of the earthquakes alone
carried the potential for destruction.
But it's the pancake collapses
that have made this
one of the deadliest disasters in the region.
Even in very well designed and executed
building would have suffered.
This doesn't rule out that
the buildings were free of defect.
"How well buildings protected residents
played a significant role in lives saved and lost."
"Clearly a lot of these buildings were not up to standard."
The death toll continues to climb...
as many victims are still stuck
under the weight of the buildings.
So what is it about these buildings
that has made this earthquake even more devastating?
First, let's look at the larger region
that's prone to severe earthquakes
because of these two fault lines.
They sit along tectonic plates that meet one another
and cause friction.
When the friction builds up...
a powerful earthquake is eventually released.
Over the last century,
Turkey has seen major earthquakes along both fault lines.
The most recent one happened here.
This is the seismic impact that shows the epicenter.
When you take a closer look at the most impacted areas...
they were densely populated with Syrian refugees
who ended up living in buildings that were haphazardly built
and largely neglected.
And across the border in Syria, buildings in these areas
were already weakened by the prolonged civil war.
But what really complicates this disaster
is that Turkey was aware of the buildings
that were the most high risk.
They're called soft story structures.
A soft story building is
typically a large structure with multiple floors...
and an open plan on the bottom.
That bottom floor can sometimes be a parking garage
space for small businesses or extra homes.
These buildings are very common throughout the world
especially in countries like India Pakistan, and Turkey.
Because they offer a solution
to overcrowding in densely populated areas.
But they historically do a poor job
of withstanding medium to powerful earthquakes.
Here's why: these columns here could be made of brittle concrete
and the stories on top
might be made of heavier materials like concrete.
Sometimes the bottom floor has fewer walls
than the ones above
with sides that may be left open
or columns that aren't connected by walls.
This means that a soft story is the weakest floor
and cannot fully support the heavier ones above it.
So when an earthquake hits the structure may shake.
Until that bottom floor collapses.
During powerful earthquakes like Turkey and Syria's
the remainder of the building may follow.
This kind of collapse
traps people under heavy construction materials
making rescue missions even more difficult.
But this is a challenge Turkey has faced before.
A comparable 7.6 earthquake hit İzmit in 1999
and caused over 17,000 deaths.
It became clear that poor building design and soft stories
which made up nearly 90% of building collapses
exacerbated the death toll in this disaster.
The aftermath pushed the Turkish government to reintroduce
building codes with an emphasis on earthquake safety.
But they weren't enforced due to corruption.
And many buildings in Turkey were built too well before 1999,
which meant those buildings
could only be strengthened retroactively.
There is a way to keep soft story buildings intact
in the event of an earthquake:
retrofitting them with materials
that can support the weight of the structure.
In an ideal scenario
these columns can be replaced or reinforced
with steel frames.
These open walls can be reinforced too
and extra bolts and braces can be drilled into the foundation.
So if the structure shakes
there's support from that bottom floor.
A solution like this seem simple
but it's extremely expensive to execute.
According to the World Bank
around 6.7 million residential buildings in Turkey
need retrofitting or reconstruction
at a cost of $465 billion.
As of 2021, only about 4% of those buildings
were transformed.
In fact, retrofitting is an expensive undertaking
and nearly impossible, even in countries like the US.
Here is every remaining soft story building in San Francisco
that needs reinforcements that would cost billions.
But another problem in Turkey is that construction companies
have been cutting corners and ignoring building codes
for decades.
And the Turkish government
has let their violations slide.
According to the BBC
this post advertised a building that complied
with Turkey's latest earthquake safety regulations
which emphasizes the use of strong materials.
But the way that same building collapsed
suggests it was a soft story structure.
Now, Turkey is cracking down on contractors
that are allegedly responsible for these collapses.
The scale of this disaster is a result of complex factors...
like geography
neighborhoods still reeling from war
and weak buildings.
But what makes this moment particularly harrowing
is that while earthquakes along fault lines are inevitable...
many of these deaths didn't have to be.
Turkey, along with other countries near fault lines
are all prone to intense earthquakes.
But they won't have to be this deadly
if cities enforce codes
and treat safe housing...
as a human right.