Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Dr. Memduh Büyükkılıç and our Rector Prof. Dr. Fatih Altun visited ERU Melikgazi Municipality Earthquake Research Laboratory and got information about the studies carried out at the center from Assoc. Prof. Tamer Dirikgil, Asst. Prof. Ahmet Özbayrak, Asst. Prof. Oğuz Düğenci and Res. Asst. Hüseyin Hilmi Aslanbay, faculty members of the Civil Engineering Department/Faculty of Engineering. They also received information about the “Experimental Analysis Project of Columns and Beams Produced from Fly Ash Based Geopolymer Botan”, conducted at the laboratory.

Making a speech during the visit, our Rector thanked Mayor Büyükkılıç for the establishment of Earthquake Research Laboratory at our university.

Giving information about the earthquakes having occurred in Kayseri lately, our Rector said: “The occurrence of aftershocks after the earthquakes in Pazarcık and Elbistan is an expected result. These breaks in Erkilet fault in Kayseri and Ecemiş fault zone, where the recent earthquakes occurred, are small earthquakes. The earthquakes that we experience are in fact the small ones when we look at the design values of our buildings. However, our citizens are worried about the seismic tremors. It is natural for a building to have these oscillations so that it can consume the earthquake force applied to it. Actually, this is the expression of the building’s resistance to the earthquake force.”

Answering the question whether there is any fatigue in the buildings after earthquakes, our Rector said: “We will overcome this process together with patience. If the matter is the fatigue of a building, the cracking of reinforced concrete and the opening in reinforced concrete cracks after each earthquake are the issues that need to be discussed. We do not see such problems in the buildings that were examined, especially in the ones built in accordance with the latest regulation. Buildings built before 1990 should not be considered to be unsound. However, if there are concerns in these buildings, it would be appropriate to eliminate the concerns by conducting an investigation.”

Mayor Dr. Memduh Büyükkılıç said that they were proud of the studies carried out at the earthquake research laboratory.

Thanking our Rector and academics for their successful works regarding the earthquake, Mayor Büyükkılıç said: “During the pandemic period, there was a faculty of medicine that found a vaccine against Covid-19. Now, there are our faculty members whom we are pleased and proud that they perform studies on the earthquake.”

Wishing the people in Kayseri to get well soon due to the earthquakes that occurred in Kayseri, Mayor Büyükkılıç continued as follows: “We are ready to do our part as a municipality. We request that those who make statements other than those concerned and official institutions not be respected.”