On Monday morning, February 6, two earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 in Pazarcık district of Kahramanmaraş at 04:17 and 7.6 in Elbistan district of Kahramanmaraş nine hours later at 13:24 caused devastation in Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Adana, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Malatya and Kilis. On the day this issue went to press, the death toll reached 45,000 and damage assessment works were around 80% completed. In consequence of such works, it was detected that 384,545 independent parts in 105,794 buildings were heavily damaged and ruined and should be demolished immediately.
Our country’s main agenda items were rescue operations, donations and solidarity in the first two weeks after the earthquake. The severity of the situation was further brought to light with the start of the debris removal process. TÜRKONFED wrote in the report it published that the earthquake was expected to cost approximately US$84 billion for the country’s economy. You can read details of the report in this issue.
Before the earthquake, in mid-January, “Domestic and National Elevator” panel was organized within the scope of the Industry and Technology Cooperation Board (SANTEK) activities carried out in cooperation with Bursa Provincial Directorate of Industry and Technology, Bursa Governorship, Bursa Chamber of Industry (BTSO) and BTSO MESYEB Elevator Test Center. Moreover, the inauguration ceremony of the factory, the construction of which was completed by Emlak Konut Asansör in Konya, was held on January 30 with the participation of numerous senior bureaucrats.
The International Elevator and Escalator Symposium (IEES) organized by Elevator World and Liftinstituut took place in Barcelona, Spain, on December 12-13, 2022. High-ranking guests from 21 countries came together to discuss lifts of the future at the event.
In this issue, we present you our main file on “Control Panels and Drivers” with full content. Articles of Melih Aybey, Dr. Lee Gray, Juan Morales, Arthur Hsu and Süleyman Özcan, who contributed to the file, shed light on the development and safety of control systems.
Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) reintroduced the face-to-face meeting concept in the CTBUH International Conference held in Chicago in November 2022. You can find the details of the article and other news from the event, which is closely followed by the vertical-transportation industry.
I wish mercy upon all citizens who lost their lives in the earthquake and patience to the survivors. I hope we take a lesson from the worst earthquake of our history and value science and human life instead of unearned income in new city plans and construction projects. Although I have no hope, I wish I would be proven wrong.
Get more of Elevator World. Sign up for our free e-newsletter.
