Gürcafer: The buildings which were built prior to 1974 nee to be overhauled, tomorrow may be too late

Cafer Gürcafer, the President of the Cyprus Turkish Building Contractors Association (CTBCA), noted that the buildings built before 1974 should be overhauled according to the regulations pertaining to an earthquake.

Gürcafer warned that “tomorrow may be too late”, saying that these buildings, which were built prior to 1974 and were mostly public and school buildings, should be reinforced immediately according to the new earthquake rules.

Gürcafer, attending as a guest after the earthquake today, made important statements at Bayrak Radio Television (BRT).

Cafer Gürcafer noted that the Chamber of Civil Engineers had conducted significant inspections regarding the resilience of buildings against an earthquake. He noted that in buildings built recently, the rules established on earthquake resilience within the framework of these inspections were followed, and that he had no concerns about this issue for new buildings.

Cafer Gürcafer, who warned critically about the earthquake resilience of the buildings built before 1974, said: “These structures, built before 1974, most of which are public and school buildings, need to be reinforced according to the new earthquake regulations. For example, Namık Kemal High School, the college building of Dr.  Fazıl Küçük Industrial Vocation High School and many other buildings in Nicosia should be strengthened according to these new regulations.  This is a huge danger and we have been drawing attention to it for some time. The managers of our country, our governments, our State should place this at the top while determining their priorities. I have said this so many times. As CTBCA, we have continuously made statements on this issue. Today’s earthquake is an omen for us. Any last regrets would not help.  As of tomorrow, all investment should be directed towards this, and our public buildings and schools should be overhauled according to the earthquake regulations and a project to refit them all should be established.’’