Four Istanbul apartment buildings evacuated after excavation next door cracks two of them

The damage appeared on 262nd Street in the Kazım Karabekir neighborhood while work was going on at the site next door, according to DHA news agency reports carried by Cumhuriyet and Takvim. Residents heard noises from the buildings and got out on their own. Firefighters, municipal police and district crews found partial cracks in the walls of two buildings and openings at their entrances. Those two were emptied and sealed, and the two buildings attached to them were cleared as a precaution. A DHA video posted by Habertürk later that morning put the total at five buildings.

Resident İrfan Uluç told reporters the contractor dug out too much soil below his building and that the building shifted as a result. Officials had not confirmed a cause or named the contractor by Sunday morning, and residents were waiting to learn whether they could go back.

In the United States, Section 3307 of the International Building Code covers this situation. Adjoining footings and foundations must be protected during construction, and whoever causes an excavation must give neighboring owners written notice at least 10 days before digging starts. Existing footings the dig could affect must be underpinned or protected some other way from settling and shifting sideways. The 2024 edition says excavation retention systems must come from a registered design professional, and their design has to include monitoring requirements.

Hard Hat Report has covered several similar Turkish cases in the past week, including a retaining wall collapse at a dig in Istanbul's Bahçelievler and another in Ankara's Mamak district that left the foundation of a 17-storey building exposed.