Erzincan Train Station Defies Earthquakes

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 7 March 2018)



Earthquakes don't kill people, peoples' buildings 

kill people.

The train station at Erzincan was designed by German engineers
and quickly built by Turkish workers in 1938. Since then there
have been three destructive earthquakes in the city but the only
building to withstand the quakes has been the station, a testament
to its engineering and construction.

One of the world's biggest earthquakes occurred in Erzincan in
1939 and there were two more sizeable quakes in 1983 and 1992.
But through all three quakes the train building has moved only
two centimeters (!), while all other buildings in the city collapsed.
Senior Geology Engineer Selahattin Ayan, who has researched
the Erzincan earthquakes, pointed out that "this building tells us
that what kills people is not the earthquake, it's the buildings that
people have built for themselves that kill them."