BME’s engineers help assess the damage of the earthquake in Turkey

Four experts from BME are working in Turkey to assess the damage caused by the earthquake and create safe conditions for underground rescue operations.

Experts from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and the Faculty of Architecture of Budapest University of Technology and Economics are participating in a joint project with Istanbul Technical University to assess the stability of damaged residential buildings.

Attila László Joó, Associate Professor of the Department of Structural Engineering at BME, said about the aim of the mission, “We have a close cooperation with Istanbul Technical University and it was evident that we would join the rescue efforts to help prevent further tragedies. Our job is to assess the damage to the buildings, provide expert opinion on the condition of the remaining infrastructural objects and participate in securing the site of the deeper excavation and rescue works and the immediate surroundings of the ruins. During our work, we also assess the damage to the supporting structures of the buildings that are still standing to determine whether they are safe and habitable.”

The other members of the expert group are István Völgyi from the Faculty of Civil Engineering, as well as Tamás Ther and Pál Ther from the Faculty of Architecture. BME’s professors arrived in the earthquake-hit Hatay province on Saturday afternoon, where they joined the HUNOR rescue team of the National Directorate General for Disaster Management in Antakya. They joined the rescue efforts, hampered by another magnitude 4 aftershock, on Saturday evening.

BME and Istanbul Technical University are both members of EELISA (European Engineering Learning Innovation and Science Alliance), which provides a framework for close cooperation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Hungary and the National Directorate General for Disaster Management assisted in the organisation of the trip.  The mission is expected to last 10 days.

Rector’s Cabinet Communications Directorate

photo: Attila Joó