International Symposium on February 6 Earthquakes Held at PAU

Mayor of Denizli Metropolitan Municipality Osman Zolan, Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kutluhan, Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Necip Atar, Dean of Faculty of Engineering Prof. Dr. Osman Nuri Ağdağ, Head of Geological Engineering Department Prof. Dr. Halil Kumsar, members of the provincial protocol and academicians attended the program held at Pamukkale University Faculty of Tourism Hierapolis Conference Hall.

The opening speeches were delivered by Prof. Dr. Halil Kumsar, Head of the Department of Geological Engineering, Prof. Dr. Osman Nuri Ağdağ, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Rector Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kutluhan and Mayor of Denizli Metropolitan Municipality Osman Zolan.

Prof. Dr. Kumsar: "Every work done needs to be reflected positively on life"

In his speech at the opening of the symposium, Prof. Dr. Halil Kumsar stated the following "I would like to express my sorrow again for the great loss of life and heavy damage in our country due to the February 6 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes we have experienced. We, as engineers, academics and administrators, we have to solve this together. Because we know how to overcome it, but unfortunately we cannot achieve it. We have to overcome obstacles quickly. Every work done needs to have a positive impact on life. While organizing this symposium, we went to the earthquake zone for the second time and made contacts with disaster mitigation commissions from Japan and China. We worked together there under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Ömer Aydan. We came together again for the symposium. We decided to organize this symposium in order to share these data in detail all over the world and Turkey. We would like to thank all our participants from Turkey and abroad for the symposium. We would also like to thank all the organizations that provided support. Hopefully, we will be able to reduce the damages and losses that will occur in earthquakes in the following processes. I wish it to be a successful symposium."

Dean Agdag: "This issue is closely related not only to the Geology and Civil Engineering departments of the Faculty of Engineering but also to other departments"

Dean Prof. Dr. Ağdağ stated the following in his speech: "The importance of the earthquake disaster in our country is well known. This issue is not only related to the geology and civil engineering departments of the engineering faculty, but also closely related to other departments. The debris residues resulting from this earthquake are a problem. In the great earthquake we experienced, again, environmental engineers made various projects for the selection of a place to store the earthquake debris. Currently, we have submitted a project proposal with Turkey, TUBITAK and a Chinese organization similar to TUBITAK, in which Prof. Wang from China, in which I am also a member, is part of the working group, on the evaluation of earthquake debris wastes and excavation wastes. This issue is very important, I hope that the symposium will be successful. I thank you all for your participation."

Rector Kutluhan: "Since Denizli is in the earthquake zone, Geological Engineering at Pamukkale University has made great efforts in this field"

Rector Prof. Dr. Kutluhan stated the following in his speech: "I wish that this meeting, which is defined as taking lessons, will be instrumental for good. Since Denizli is in the earthquake zone, Geological Engineering at Pamukkale University has made great efforts in this field. Most recently, Pamukkale University has proved that it is ready for service by establishing the Earthquake Research Laboratory. We would like to thank our valuable businessman Şemsettin Terzioğlu for the establishment of this laboratory. I would also like to thank Ömer Aydan, who provided the greatest support for the equipment reinforcement of the laboratory. This laboratory is one of the rare laboratories in Turkey. As Prof. Halil Kumsar stated, we are ready for new international joint scientific studies as we have done before. I would like to thank this team very much. They have been the pride of our university by being in the earthquake zone. I would like to give an example to understand the magnitude of these earthquakes: We are all human beings and we all have people who have had cerebral palsy. Sometimes we say "thank God" when we recover from these cerebral strokes and stand up. Sometimes we say we are back on our feet enough to take care of our physiological needs. Sometimes we remain bedridden, sometimes we remain in a coma and die. The most important event here is the small size and size of the artery that causes cerebral palsy. In Kahramanmaraş, it was the involvement of a large artery and two arteries. This is a comatose patient. I am really proud of my nation. They quickly brought this patient out of coma. We worked together to get him out. This patient is now out of intensive care. On behalf of my nation and my University, I would like to thank all those who supported us both at home and abroad. Another thing we can be proud of as Pamukkale University is that there is a Babadağ Project. There is Gündoğdu Neighborhood, which is a landslide zone. By moving this neighborhood, we are preventing a disaster that will occur there. The medical equivalent of this is vaccination. If you vaccinate, you will not get sick. This is what we want in earthquakes. We should be comfortable in a possible earthquake where all precautions have been taken and all studies have been carried out. I want Pamukkale University and Denizli to learn the lessons of this symposium as a start. Great lessons will be learned for the country on the occasion of the symposium.  There are great professors among us today and they will have great suggestions. I wish it to be auspicious."