22.02.2023
ETEK, the Cyprus Chamber of Science and Technology, has sent a letter to the Department of Public Works calling for urgent security checks on buildings, starting with those used by the public.
The recent devastating earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria serve as a stark reminder of the serious risk to which Cyprus’ aging building stock is exposed as a result of earthquakes and severe weather events.
It was only in 1994 that a law on mandatory anti-seismic surveys was adopted. In 1999, design supervision was introduced, and finally in 2012, the Eurocodes for the design of earthquake-resistant structures were adopted.
ETEK President Konstantinos Constanti said: “I am not saying there will be an earthquake like the one that happened in Turkey and we should not panic. But we must check and strengthen the buildings so that when there is a strong earthquake, losses, whether human or construction, are reduced to the minimum possible.”
According to information released by the Statistical Office in 2019, 204,455 buildings (out of 431,059 registered) were built before the mandatory anti-seismic survey law was passed in 1994; of these 13,037 houses were built before 1945 and are over 78 years old.
Speaking to Rosie Charalambous, ETEK’s Platonas Stylianou said that:
“The problem, according to our research at ETEK, is mainly related to old buildings; the existing building stock of which is aging and does not meet modern building standards and technologies. But this is mainly because it lacks maintenance and because we don’t have a culture in Cyprus of maintaining and renovating our buildings. That is why at ETEK we have created visual building inspection forms so that civil engineers can help ensure that the basic building user protection requirements are met.”
Currently, the building owner must request an inspection, but ETEK is trying to get regular inspections in line with the law.
The maintenance and repair of the 30,000 jointly owned buildings is a particular challenge, as their owners do not always agree to the necessary repairs or seismic reinforcement.
In the past year alone, a fifth-floor balcony collapsed in an old apartment building in Limassol, and two balconies collapsed in Paphos, injuring seven people, four of them seriously.
Cyprus is located in the zone of secondary earthquakes and often experiences small tremors. The consequences of the earthquakes that devastated parts of Turkey and Syria were felt in the eastern part of the island. There were no reports of damage or injury.
