Turkey is preparing a roadmap to transform Istanbul amid warnings of a future major earthquake around the metropolis.
Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Mehmet Özhaseki said Turkey was stepping up efforts to draw up a road map for Istanbul against earthquakes, which according to recent reports would destroy “two buildings” on every street there, and that they planned to build thousands buildings in new reserve areas.
The roadmap for Istanbul is being developed to prepare the metropolis for an expected high-magnitude earthquake in the future, the minister said, as efforts to rebuild Turkey’s southeastern provinces continue.
After a month of preparation, a roadmap for the transformation of Istanbul will be presented to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ojaceki told Daily Sabah during a visit to Turkuvaz Media in the capital Ankara. “There will be a legislative framework as well as a special project to transform Istanbul.”
The city, which last suffered severe earthquake damage in 1999, is on alert amid repeated warnings from experts that a “major” earthquake of magnitude 7.0 or greater is expected, 20 years after the last major earthquake in the area.
“Istanbul is one of the riskiest metropolises in the world. There are 5.8 million independent entities in Istanbul, which include houses and workplaces, and 1.5 million of them are at risk. Almost a quarter of the territory of Istanbul is at risk. In the event of a 7.0-magnitude earthquake, 600,000 buildings would collapse, which means two buildings on every street,” Yozhaseki said, noting that this would also affect infrastructure and will make transportation difficult.
“Many buildings will be built in reserve areas. 600,000 risky buildings will be relocated,” the minister said.
“There will also be help with on-site transformation. Before the election, we launched a ‘Half of Us’ campaign to demolish and rebuild their buildings. Applications were submitted for 1.2 million detached housing units, which make up 90,000 buildings. Within this project we will cover half of the costs. We will demolish and transport the most risky buildings to the reserve areas, and if there are places that are lacking in terms of social needs, the municipalities will take over the work.”
As part of the transformation efforts, Yozhaseki also said he is in coordination and met with Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, inviting the 39 district mayors in the province to the ministry. “The work with them has been going on for the last 15-20 days”.
Earthquake recovery
On February 6, two earthquakes measuring 7.7 and 7.6 on the Richter scale shook several Turkish provinces, killing more than 50,000 people. About 14 million people in Turkey were affected by the earthquakes, as were many thousands more in northern Syria.
“Our main program is the earthquake,” the minister emphasized.
“(Approximately) 680,000 houses were destroyed, as well as 170,000 workplaces, warehouses, barns, haylofts and similar sites, making a total of 850,000 individual sites. 11 provinces were said to have been affected by the earthquake, but in reality 18 provinces have been affected and included in the scope of post-earthquake reconstruction,” the minister said.
He specified that both in-situ transformation and spare residential areas are options for rebuilding the earthquake-affected provinces. Those who favor the selection of reserve areas argue that such an earthquake could happen again in the same place, while others point to the disadvantages of reserve areas that they are too far from old urban centers, as well as from each other. Cities in reserve areas can be miles apart from others.
Yohhaseki said 182,000 houses in the reserve areas have been auctioned.
On the other hand, people also prefer to rebuild their houses in the areas where they have memories and grew up, which is why many of them apply for the project on the spot.
A huge influx of applications was received on the first day after the announcement of the site conversion project, which was launched to provide grants and financial support to people who wish to rebuild their buildings in earthquake-damaged areas.
The minister stated that 150,000 people applied for the project. Currently, the largest number of applications have been submitted in Hatay – over 60,000.
As for the reasons why so many buildings collapsed during the earthquake, Yozhaseki said several buildings were built carelessly, with low quality, without materials and according to engineering calculations from the 1980s and 1990s , and were located on fault lines, while most were built according to regulations that were in place before 2000. After the 1999 earthquake that shook the Marmara Sea region, a new regulation was introduced that required buildings to are built resistant to earthquakes with a magnitude of 8.0.
The minister stressed that construction of buildings on fault lines or riverbeds will not be allowed. Engineering calculations and construction companies will have to strictly follow the regulation.
Erdogan promised a quick recovery after the twin earthquakes. According to the government’s latest estimates, the costs incurred by the earthquake for the country’s economy are estimated at a total of 104 billion dollars (2.74 trillion Turkish liras), notes BGNES.
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2023-08-02 16:50:00
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