Entering Sakarya from TransEuropean Motorway (TEM) on the south.

The "District of Organized Industry"
Prefabricated R/C frame factory which was under construction.

Just past the prefab. R/C structure in the previous photo. No signs of damage.

Entering Adapazari.
No apparent damage; the surrounding is situated on a hill hence rock.

The top of the minaret is missing.
(Centrum is to the right)

As soon as one gets on the flatland/basin, which has an alluvial base,
the heavy damage starts.

Impounding of a collapsed structure - know who and what your neighbor is!

Ground floor was occupied.
Note how the concrete in the columns was disintegrated.
The rest of the columns were able to carry the added load.

All of the buildings on this boulevard were heavily damaged or collapsed.

Across the same boulevard.

Trying to find our way out of Adapazari and to Duzce - a town on the East
which we had heard to be heavily damaged (it is situated on alluvial soil as well).

Collapsed first (and second?) story and left-wing.

I was in Sakarya first on August 27, 1999, together with a team from
the Disaster Management Center, Middle East Technical University (Ankara).
The team members were Prof. Polat Gulkan, Research Assistants Sinan Akkar and Altug Erberik.

The main boulevard near the City Hall ("Valilik").

Spraying diluted bleach (hypochlorur) against flies/mosquitos.
From personal experience elsewhere, I know that it doesn't work.

Detail of the collapsed building across the boulevard.
Note the excellent performance of the structure it pounded.

Adapazari Ticaret ve Sanayi Odasi - the building that used to house
the Association for Trade and Industry in Adapazari
(Valilik is on the right, after an open space/park)

And how the ATSO building looked like in 1997.
From the album published by the Sakarya Governor's Office in 1997 in celebration of the 75th year of the Republic.
Photo forwarded by Nesrin Basoz.

The white building on the right is the City Hall.

The cellular phone antennas were intact, at least, structurally.
Note the PTT (what used to be the State Mail-Phone-Telegraph company)

Valilik (The City Hall). Looking almost due west.
This building was retrofit and upgraded after the 1967 Adapazari earthquake, and
it is known to be the first building to undergo such process in Turkey.
It performed very well during the recent earthquake and was in use as the Crisis Management
Center at the time we were there. Compare it with the ATSO building mentioned above.
It pays of to retrofit/upgrade.

Note the chimney on the right - it is not in as good shape as it looks.

You should have heard the sounds around the City Hall -all sorts of emergency calls and announcements.
Just left of this photo there was a Ministry of Justice building ("Adliye"). Totally collapsed.

Turning left and looking towards the structures behind ATSO building
(the collapsed ATSO building is to the left of the photo).

The chimney for the central heating plant for the buildings around Valilik.

Not so vertical.

Tension failure in the reinforcement bars.

And buckling on the side.

The building that used to house the Tapu Dairesi (local agency issuing estate ownerships)
just behind (west) the Valilik. Chimney is on the right.

East of Valilik (the white building in the distance).
The whole district sustained heavy medium to heavy damage due to
soil failure (liquefaction and/or bearing capacity failure). Situated on silty-sand. We
were told that the alluvial soil is 30 m deep, and the water table is only 2 m below the surface!

The below two images were published on 27 August, 1999. Property of Milliyet.
The red building in first one is the red/pink building in the above photo.

and the below photo is of a building, after the Adapazari Earthquake of 1967,
owned by the same family. It was in the same spot as the one above.

Interior of a classroom on the second floor of one of the buildings of Sabiha Hanim Primary School - it sustained heavy damage.
Note that the second building of the school complex is the one on the right and it has performed rather well.
We walked between that and the other white building on the left seen through the windows.

And this is how the school building of the previous photo looks from outside.
This image is property of METU-DMC.

Just past the second building of Sabiha Hanim Primary School and looking left. Unbelievable!

There are actually two toppled buildings!
Note the weak soil.

Sand boil. Sign of liquefaction in the neighboring building.
This image is property of METU-DMC.

Walking towards right (southward).
Strong beam-weak column! Note the crack in the lower part of the beam-column connection.

The back streets. The wall seen on the right marks the border of the Kiz Meslek Lisesi
(will come back and show its roof's failure)

And looking back!

Look at the depth(!) of the foundation it had.

A grand example of soil failure.
We did not see any sand boils around it.

Have you ever dreamed of seeing the bottom of a matt foundation?

Looking at the axis of rotation.
Observe well how a structure is able to sink!

Roof failure - Kiz Meslek Lisesi. Unreinforced brick wall held together with mortar.

A good performance of an adobe house nearby. Note the collapsed chimney.

Note the height to width ratio.

A two-story wood-frame house with brick infill walls.

The wood-frame structure at the end of the street.

A really beautiful one - probably built early in the century.

The gentleman with blue coat is the owner. He was going to renovate the structure,
he told us, but that was before the earthquake. I have his address and promised to
send him photos of his house.

Walking towards the Valilik.

And on our right, at distance, a collapsed mosque (possibly the Muftuluk Mosque).
Note the leaning building on the right.

The image below, showing the state of one of the buildings of Kocaeli University,
was published on 24 August, 1999. Property of Milliyet.

 Duzce >>