The reasons they are falling: a quarter of houses in Turkey are built of diluted concrete

Ivan Zubov

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to basically restore the country's earthquake-affected provinces in one year, making every effort to quickly reconstruct residential areas and return to normal life.

"We are determined to build everything much better than before. That's why I ask citizens to give me one year. I promise my people that during this time we will almost completely heal the wounds caused by the earthquake, because we have always fulfilled our promises and solved problems that were considered unsolvable", - Erdogan said during a visit to Adiyaman, one of the 11 Turkish provinces affected by the earthquake.

Erdogan stressed that restoration work has already begun in all 11 provinces, and additional measures will be taken in March and April: "I want to appeal to all residents of these earthquake-affected provinces: do not leave your hometowns forever. We will build much stronger, more beautiful and better houses for you", - the Turkish Hurriyet newspaper reports.

Meanwhile, details that are extremely unpleasant for the Turkish authorities are being clarified, which relate to the quality of housing and not only construction, which cannot but affect the housing market in the future.

The head of the Turkish Association of Laboratories for the Evaluation of Construction and Foundation, Yavuz Poyraz, in particular, told the publication that in the whole country, after the inspections carried out, about 26% of concrete samples can be called substandard! That is, in fact, more than a quarter of the housing stock built during the years of Erdogan's rule is under threat of destruction if a new similar natural disaster occurs.

At the same time, in Istanbul, the indicators are even worse – 40% of diluted concrete was found there! According to the expert, only 1% of non-conforming material was found in concrete mixers by conscientious developers. While some builders have low-quality concrete identified in 67% of cases.

The publication reports that after the tragic earthquake, many Turkish residents order a quality check of concrete in their homes. As a result, they find pieces of wood, old newspapers and other garbage there...

It's worth reminding that almost 45 thousand people became victims of the earthquake in Turkey alone, and about 6 thousand more died in Syria. Meanwhile, the tremors in Turkey continue…