01.11.2025 21:00
Prof. Dr. Ali Koçak, a faculty member at Yıldız Technical University, conducted investigations in the building that became the grave for four people in Gebze. He examined the reasons for the collapse of the Arslan Apartment. He stated that ground movements and design flaws were the causes of the building's collapse.
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A striking evaluation has come regarding the building that collapsed in the Mevlana Neighborhood of Gebze district in Kocaeli, which became a grave for 4 people in recent days.
Prof. Dr. Ali Koçak, a faculty member of the Civil Engineering Department at Yıldız Technical University (YTÜ), conducted examinations at the site of the collapsed building on Issıkgöl Street in Mevlana Neighborhood of Gebze district, which collapsed on October 29, resulting in the loss of 4 lives.
"THERE ARE TWO MAIN REASONS" Regarding the reasons for the building's collapse, Koçak stated to the press that "One of the main reasons for the collapsed building is ground movement. Some subsidence occurred in the ground, and the structure began to settle. Settlements started in the column next to the pharmacy at the corner. As the structure could not bear that load, the settlements accelerated. The settlements continued, and the building is heavy and high-rise. It is actually a 7-story building, but I said high-rise because it is narrow, and due to its weight, the building collapsed.
There are two reasons here. The first is ground settlement movement, and the second is structural movement. The cause of the ground settlements is being investigated. Geophysicists and geologists are conducting their research. Additionally, the buildings are being examined. The condition of the buildings is being assessed. The two situations will be combined, and controls will be conducted. After the control, both the method of the building's collapse and the fate of the 16 buildings that are currently sealed will be revealed," he said.
"THE DEBRIS IS BEING REMOVED BECAUSE EXPERT EXAMINATIONS HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED" Prof. Dr. Koçak pointed out that the collapse of the building may have resulted from voids in the ground, water movement, or the settlements it has been subjected to since the day it was built, stating, "The effects of the Sındırgı earthquake, the metro passage, all of these could happen at once. Therefore, structural movement may have occurred due to these factors. This will be clearly established as a result of the ground examinations.
They are looking into whether there is a void in the ground, what the ground movement is, and what the structure of the ground is. After all these are gathered, the condition of the superstructures is also examined. They will be combined, and both will be simulated together. The infrastructure and superstructure will be combined and checked, but since all expert examinations have been conducted on the collapsed building, the debris of the building is being removed. Later, the ground condition will be examined. Thus, both the reason for the building's collapse and what will happen to the other buildings and the neighborhood, as well as the conditions of the ground, will be determined," he stated.
"UNFORTUNATELY, A DESIGN FLAW IS ALSO VISIBLE IN THE BUILDING" Koçak concluded his speech by saying: "When we make building calculations, we never want the building to collapse, but we also make static calculations for potential collapses. We do not want any of our columns to break. Under any circumstances, even if there is ground settlement, we can take ground settlements into account in our calculations. We can also look at grounds with settlement characteristics.
We do not want the building to collapse even in an earthquake that occurs far or near, and we calculate accordingly. There are some flaws in the design of the building. The building is narrow and long, collapsing by making horizontal movements. There is also that irregularity, meaning the upper floor of the pharmacy has a low height and short columns of a mezzanine. In these calculations, we also take into account the situations where the mezzanine, or rather the floor height is low. Therefore, we will make all these calculations, and as a result of the calculations, the expert friends will also make their comments, and thus the real reason for the collapse will be revealed, but unfortunately, a design flaw is also visible in the building."
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