İstanbul buildings to become more quake resistant

İstanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş has announced that buildings in İstanbul will be reinforced and made more earthquake resistant against the risk of a major tremor that is feared to hit this city of 12 million in the near future. 

 Speaking to reporters about the municipality’s preparations for an earthquake, following a meeting in Saraçhane on Monday, Topbaş acknowledged that İstanbul residents are anxious about a possible earthquake while adding that politicians have not taken sufficient steps to prepare for such a quake.
The mayor said preparations are vital for the city, which faces the real risk of a major earthquake. Talking about studies launched by the municipality, he explained: “We carried out inspections of buildings in 10 districts, and around 150,000 buildings were surveyed in six districts. Serious problems have become obvious in the results. If citizens want, we will launch a program to reconstruct weak buildings. İstanbul residents should be speaking about the earthquake every day. It won’t be possible for us to solve the problems that will be caused by an earthquake. İstanbul needs to be reinforced because it faces a significant risk,” Topbaş said.