Earthquake Risk Should Not Be Overlooked When Buying a Home

Middle East Technical University Department of Civil Engineering faculty members Aslı Akçamete Güngör and İsmail Özgür Yaman's Report on the Impact of Cement and Ready-Mix Concrete Price Increases on Building Costs emphasizes that the effect of concrete used in buildings on construction costs is very low. At a press conference organized by the Turkey Cement Manufacturers Association (TÇMB) on 28 February 2018 under the chairmanship of Nihat Özdemir, the findings of the Report on the Impact of Cement and Ready-Mix Concrete Price Increases on Building Costs were presented by ODTÜ Department of Civil Engineering Professor Dr. İsmail Özgür Yaman.

Cement's Impact on Building Costs Between 2% and 4%

The presentation emphasized that the impact of cement used on building costs is between 2% and 4%. Taking the floor from Özdemir, Yaman stated, "It is not entirely correct to reduce construction costs only to the cost of raw materials and materials used. We can list many cost items such as land, labor, financing, marketing and sales as major costs." Noting that the location of the dwelling and the cost impact of other materials used can be quite high, Yaman continued, "In contrast, the impact of cement and concrete prices on reinforced concrete building costs is quite limited. Particularly in luxury and first-class buildings, the factors affecting building costs stem from other components of the building."

Among Turkey's locomotive sectors, the construction sector still carries many buildings in different regions that have not completed their transformation and continue to face the risk of collapse in earthquakes.

While residential sales in Turkey are expected to increase in coming periods as they have in every period, the fact that our country is located in an earthquake risk zone makes the quality of newly built homes even more important. Given the risk of small and large-scale earthquakes occurring at any time, the importance of concrete standards used in buildings and developing technologies in this field is increasing. According to the latest statement from the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, 66% of Turkey is located in an earthquake zone. In the last hundred years, 56 earthquakes of magnitude 6 and above have occurred. In these 56 earthquakes, 82,000 citizens lost their lives. In the 7.4 magnitude earthquake on 17 August, 17,480 people lost their lives while 285,000 residential units and 43,000 workplaces were damaged. In total, 16 million citizens were affected by this earthquake. According to the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization's findings, 6.7 million residential units in Turkey need to be included in urban transformation projects. Emphasizing that reinforced concrete buildings are safe and economical structures, Yaman stated, "In addition to all materials used in building construction, safe building design and construction techniques are also important factors in building costs. Therefore, with the awareness that our country is located in an earthquake zone, we must apply safe design and construction techniques regardless of cost and pay attention to concrete quality when constructing our buildings. Last month, in the tragic incident we experienced in Kartal, we lost 21 citizens and dozens of people were injured. To prevent such tragedies from happening again, instead of focusing on cement concrete costs which have very little cost impact on buildings, quality concrete must be used. We strongly emphasize this."