A single building remained standing among the collapsed houses in Kahramanmaraş.. What is the secret of its steadfastness?

At a time when the numbers indicate that the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey caused the collapse of at least 10,000 buildings in the ten affected states, a picture appeared of the building of the Chamber of Structural Engineers in the city of Kahramanmaraş, and it seemed steadfast, while the rest of the buildings around it turned into rubble.

This image sparked a storm of anger among the Turks towards contractors and construction engineers, at a time when accusations are increasing against them of contributing to multiplying the catastrophic consequences of the earthquake, due to their failure to adhere to the building standards set by the Turkish authorities in the aftermath of the earthquake that struck the country in 1999 and claimed the lives of about 17,000 people.

In this context, Turkish Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdag announced that the ministry had opened an investigation into fraud in building materials.

Bozdag indicated that special offices have been set up to search for those responsible for the collapse of buildings in the recent earthquake, and that the role of these offices will be to conduct forensic investigations legally and to identify the negligent, exploiters, or users of poor materials.

He explained that the file of 134 suspects of negligence in the construction of buildings was investigated and studied, as 3 of them were arrested and 7 others were arrested.

In turn, the Turks interacted strongly with the image of the construction engineers' building, and asked if the building had withstood because of the contractor's commitment to earthquake-resistant building standards imposed by the government?

Among the tweets monitored by the “Networks” episode on 13/2/2023 was a tweet by Sharaf al-Din Hoshbashi, in which he poured out his anger on all those who were negligent in complying with the implementation of safety standards in construction, and said, “This is a crime for municipalities and those responsible for corruption. They ignore safety certificates and grant contractors building permits.” Although they do not adhere to building standards.

In turn, the activist Ugur Zifchi presented other possibilities for the building's steadfastness, writing, "According to my studies and experience, there are many factors that could cause this scene, including the building's height, age, and size. It is clear that the building is new and does not contain high floors, so it has withstood well."

As for Selcuk Kolaksiz, he saw that well-constructed buildings have a high cost, which is something that not everyone can afford, so he tweeted, "This is a building based on steel and not concrete, so it was not affected, and realistically this cannot be a housing model, no one will be able to buy a house based on steel." ".

Gokhan Bayad defended the engineers, and refused to hold them responsible for the catastrophic consequences of the earthquake.

As for Haqan Bilan, he went on to consider the matter as mere predestination that everyone should accept, and he said in his tweet, "I did not study engineering, but there must be a mind. The earthquake that moved the entire Turkish geography by 3 meters has no criteria for selection, it is only the predestination."