Buildings in Malataya heavily ruined from inside after quakes

While almost none of the buildings in the southeastern province of Malatya's Bostanbaşı neighborhood collapsed in the earthquakes, the buildings that looked intact on the outside were almost completely ruined on the inside.

The Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry has asked its officials to conduct new inspections on buildings in Malatya after a third 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck the Yeşilyurt district 21 days after the deadly Feb. 6 earthquakes.

The new reports of the ministry experts who conducted a reexamination are being uploaded on Türkiye's e-government website, e-Devlet, as of March 13.

In the new reports, none of the hundreds of buildings in the Bostanbaşı neighborhood, a new settlement area with nearly 2,000 apartments, were found intact.

Almost all of the high-rise blocks that appear to be intact from the outside were found to be heavily damaged from the inside. Among these severely damaged buildings, there are also ones that are newly built and have not yet been occupied.

In the photographs added to the reports by the Ministry, cracked beams and staircases and curved columns were seen in buildings with nine to 14 stories.

Some shops and apartments still have "for sale" and "for rent" posters on them from before the earthquakes.

These destroyed luxury residences, where each apartment is sold for millions of liras, represent the loss of the country's national wealth.

Erkan Özgür, Malatya Representative of the Geological Engineers Chamber stated that the neighborhood was zoned for housing 25 years ago. In fact, the story height was limited at first.

However, after a while, the story height was liberalized with the decision of the city council.

He added that...