Istanbul has launched a comprehensive program to conduct safety checks on buildings throughout the city. The program involves a team of structural engineers and building inspectors who will assess the structural integrity of buildings and determine whether they are safe for occupancy. The checks will focus on buildings in high-risk areas, including those with poor construction quality, inadequate seismic protection, or those built on unstable ground.
Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, has started a programme to give quick building scans since many citizens are concerned about the safety of their homes following recent disastrous earthquakes that have killed more than 44,000 people nationwide. Istanbul has a long history of earthquakes, and the city has taken numerous steps to improve its building codes and earthquake-resistant design standards. The safety checks aim to ensure that residents and visitors are safe and that buildings in the city can withstand future earthquakes.
The service will assess the strength of the ground and provide a safety rating to the examined building in accordance with its measurements of concrete quality and rebar count using an X-ray scan. Concrete will be strengthened if its strength is found to be inadequate. Buildings will be dismantled before new ones are constructed if reinforcing is not an option.
According to the 2021 building inventory, more than half of the 1.16 million the buildings present in the metropolis do not adhere to earthquake resistance regulations. To make Istanbul earthquake-proof thousands of structures must be torn down and rebuilt. The city will offer its citizens up to 4,500 Turkish liras (238 U.S. dollars) in rental assistance in the event of demolition.
In addition to these measures, Istanbul has been investing in earthquake preparedness, including training programs for emergency responders, public awareness campaigns, and earthquake drills. The city has also been working to upgrade its infrastructure, including its water and gas pipelines, to ensure that they are resilient in the event of an earthquake. These efforts reflect Istanbul's ongoing commitment to ensuring the safety of its residents and visitors in the face of potential earthquakes.
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