January 2011 Vol. 66 No. 1
Newsline
Earthquake Effects And Trenchless Technologies Workshop Held In Istanbul
On Aug. 17, 1999, a powerful earthquake hit Turkey’s Marmara region, destroying the city of Istanbul, causing more than 17,000 deaths and 40,000 injuries. In the wake of this region’s disaster, there are predictions of another large earthquake occurring in Istanbul in the near future.
To address these issues and the impacts of another disaster, the Turkish Society for Infrastructure and Trenchless Technologies (TSITT) held an international workshop in collaboration with CUIRE (Center for Underground Infrastructure Research and Education, UT at Arlington) on Aug. 17, titled, “Earthquake Effects on Underground Infrastructures, Management of Underground Infrastructures and Trenchless Technologies Workshop” in the IGDAS Conference Center, Istanbul, Turkey.
Participants and speakers from TSITT, CUIRE, MBB (Union of Municipalities of the Marmara Region), IBB (Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality), ISKI (Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration), IGDAS (Istanbul Natural Gas Distribution Company), ADASU (Adapazari Water and Sewerage Administration), ISU (Izmit Water and Sewerage Administration), SU VAKFI (Turkish Water Foundation), ITU (Istanbul Technical University), AREL (Istanbul Arel University), FYFE Europe, BOREALIS Turkey/Europe discussed the earthquake effects on underground infrastructures, management of underground infrastructures and potential trenchless technologies to be used in the near future.
Yasin Torun, chair of TSITT and Dr. Zekai Sen, professor, chair of Turkish Water Foundation, gave opening speeches. Dr. Mohammad Najafi, director of CUIRE, followed with a presentation about recent developments and trenchless technology applications in terms of new installations, renewals and rehabilitations of pipelines systems.
The first session called, “Trenchless Technologies in Turkey and in the World with Recent Developments,” was delivered by Dr. Fevzi Yilmaz, professor, Istanbul Arel University; Dr. Najafi; Gunther Dreiling, manager, Borealis Europe; and Umit Corbacioglu, manager, Borealis Turkey. Speakers discussed the recent developments, studies and applications of trenchless technologies with the comparison of open-cut technologies.
The second session included, “Earthquake Resistance in the Management of Underground Infrastructures and Trenchless Technologies.” Conducted by Dr. Rustem Keles, general manager, ADASU; Fatih Yildiz, head of department, ISKI; Mustafa Yalcinkaya, manager, IGDAS; and Dr. Ihsan Engin Bal, FYFE Europe, the speakers discussed the past earthquakes in the Marmara region with their effects to the management of underground infrastructures. Additionally, recent projects and future suggestions for increasing the resistance of underground infrastructures were discussed.
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