Treasury Report: Evacuate the building quickly

A critical report came from the Middle East Technical University (METU) and the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, which examined the Ministry of Treasury and Finance building as presenting an earthquake risk, calling for the rapid evacuation of the building. While both reports claim that the building is at risk of collapsing in the event of an earthquake, it is stated that it is inevitable to complete the evacuation process as soon as possible. The reports also included a warning that reinforcement could not be carried out while personnel were inside the building due to risky cracks in the columns, and that one of the reinforcement or demolition alternatives could be decided after the building was evacuated.

THE BUILDING HAS BEEN UNDER MONITORING FOR 24 YEARS

The skyscraper, which also houses the office of Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek, was reported to have been damaged in the 1999 earthquakes and has been closely monitored by METU since that day. After the recent Kahramanmaraş and Konya earthquakes, METU installed devices on the building, which reportedly had cracks in its columns, and warning signals from the devices started arriving last week. Immediately afterwards, it was reported that METU carried out earthquake resistance tests on the building and at the same time, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization sent its own experts to carry out durability tests on the building.

After examination by the technical committees, negative reports came from both METU and the Ministry of Environment, and both reports requested the rapid evacuation of the building. It was warned that in the event of a possible earthquake, the columns would not be able to support the building, so evacuation was inevitable. It was claimed that the land on which the building sits was also watery. The sources stated that there is information in the reports that the reinforcement work carried out on the cracks that previously appeared in the columns of the building increased the load on the columns and the flexibility of the columns was lost.

THERE IS NO RENT, THE MINISTRY WILL USE IT

Treasury and Finance Ministry officials also said allegations that the building could be demolished and the 55-decare land could turn a profit are not true. It was reported that all means will be tried to strengthen the building in the first stage, and in case of demolition, a new campus called the Ministry of Treasury and Finance Complex will be created in the same place and the services will be carried out in the same place.

Following the reports, work to evacuate the building began. It was learned that some staff were moved to the former Ministry of Finance building in front of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and most of them will be located in small buildings next to the skyscraper. Another public building was reportedly evacuated to accommodate the remaining parts of the ministry. Ministry officials said there was no reason for staff to panic and that reinforcement work would begin immediately after the building was evacuated.