President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to unveil a much-anticipated roadmap to rapidly transform Türkiye’s largest metropolis, Istanbul, to prepare it for earthquakes, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Mehmet Özhaseki said Thursday.
Speaking at the “21st Century Municipalism Local Governments Summit," organized by the Turkuvaz Media Group in Istanbul, Özhaseki said Erdoğan will make the announcement on Saturday.
“We will construct hundreds of thousands of homes,” he said, adding that the government has social housing initiatives as it has spent great efforts on the urban transformation laws.
“Hopefully, on Saturday, we will jumpstart Istanbul’s earthquake preparation initiatives with many good news,” the minister said, adding that there will be groundbreaking ceremonies, symbolic demolishments, and contracts, on that day.
“We see this as a first step toward Istanbul’s preparation efforts for earthquakes,” he said, adding that Türkiye is among the five countries most at risk for earthquakes.
Around 800,000 residential buildings were reconstructed in line with contemporary earthquake regulations, and 600,000 others need to be urgently reconstructed, according to the minister, who noted that the state will cooperate with contractors to speed up the process.
The potential of a massive earthquake in the Marmara region, especially in Istanbul, has been on the country’s agenda following two major earthquakes, which killed over 50,000 and left hundreds of thousands of buildings destroyed in Türkiye's southeast on Feb. 6.
The city, which last suffered heavy damage from earthquakes in 1999, is on edge in light of the repeated warnings by experts about the anticipated “big one,” an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 or higher.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change is also in the process of devising a comprehensive four-phase plan as part of the aim to enact a special earthquake law,
Noting that it is crucial for cities to adapt to the “spirit of times,” Özhaseki said smart cities were one of the most important phenomena of the present day.
“This transformation continues in a multidimensional and speedy manner,” he said, adding that municipalities must embrace new technology and other methods to deal with contemporary issues.
Türkiye will be holding local elections in March 2024.
