Municipality Evacuates at-risk buildings in Syria’s Damascus, Homs
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – On Sunday, the Damascus municipality evacuated an illegal five-storey residential building in Mazzeh 86 area, due to cracks in one column.
After assessing the scale of damage in the building following the Feb 6 earthquake, the municipality evacuated the adjacent one due to the adjoining buildings in the area.
On February 6, devastating earthquakes hit southern Turkey and northwest Syria, killing thousands and injuring much more, in addition to toppling thousands buildings under which thousands were trapped.
Deputy Governor of Damascus, Ali al-Mobayed, told state media only two out of more than 40 columns in the building need to be reinforced, as its residents will be able to return after the completion of the reinforcement works.
While in Homs, head of the city council, Abdullah al-Bawab, revealed on Monday that about 30 buildings at risk of collapse in the neighborhoods of al-Qarabees, Bayada, Jouret al-Shiyah, Deir Ba’albeh, Bab Houd and al-Sabil had been evacuate.
In an interview with the pro-government al-Watan newspaper, al-Bawab pointed out that the city council has, so far, demolished eight dilapidated buildings in each of Bayada, Jouret al-Shiyah, al-Qarabees, and the old city of Homs.
He stated that after the deadly Feb. 6 earthquake specialized committees of engineers have assessed damage in more than 750 buildings and houses within the city’s neighborhoods, “according to the assessment reports, some buildings need to be demolished and removed while others need to be reinforced.
On Friday, the National Earthquake Center (NEC) in Syria said that the center recorded two aftershocks, the first of a 5.4 magnitude northwest of Idlib at 22:47 on Feb. 15, and the other was of a 3.4 magnitude northwest of Latakia, at 23:17.
The general director of the NEC in Syria, Ra’d Ahmad, told a local press website that the aftershocks might persist for a whole year through more than 30.000 very mild tremors.
On Friday, an evacuated building collapsed in al-Qahira Street in the Bayada neighborhood because it cracked after the 7.8 magnitude earthquakes.