Istanbul

Istanbul needs ₺500 billion for it to be completely safe against earthquakes

Tayfun Kahraman, Head of the IMM Department of Earthquake Risk Management and Urban Improvement, stated that approximately ₺500 billion is needed in Istanbul to have a fully safe city against earthquakes.

Tayfun Kahraman, Head of the Department of Earthquake Risk Management and Urban Improvement of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, made statements about the studies, projects and suggestions carried out by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality within the scope of earthquake combat at the Turkish Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

According to the news in Haberturk; Kahraman emphasized that he has been working on both determining the post-disaster assembly and accommodation areas and making them ready for disaster. Looking at the costs, Kahraman pointed out that approximately ₺500 billion is needed to obtain a city that is fully safe against earthquakes at the moment and said, “We need our banking system and the other private sector to find this money, and we need their support. In order to create a safe environment against the fragile building stock, and to make the earthquake a priority issue in Istanbul, we need a structure that is able to take binding decisions, follow the process, coordinate and work together between institutions, and to prevent risks and threats, the institutions with the necessary binding decisions, and a structure that can direct its execution, operate with common sense and solution partnership perspective, aim to make Istanbul a durable city and strengthened with legislative changes and regulations. With this structure, we think we can find financial solutions only if we are going to facilitate implementation and physically restructure.”

Stating that after the earthquake, gathering and temporary accommodation areas were determined according to location selection criteria, they were considered from the type of land use to the width of the road and the population capacity.

“859 gathering areas with a size of 32 million square meters and a capacity of 21 million people; 17 open, 2 thousand 662 closed, temporary accommodation areas were determined. Temporary accommodation areas are areas that Istanbul residents can use for periods ranging from 1 month to 2 years. You can also follow these areas on the Istanbul city map. Currently, these areas are shared on the Istanbul city map. Together with AFAD, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Gendarmerie General Command, we continue our collaborative work on post-disaster evacuation, resettlement and the planning of the sustainability of life, which is one of the issues we care about. ”

Istanbul needs ₺500 billion for it to be completely safe against earthquakes 2

ALL THE MEETING AREAS IN SISLI ARE CEMETERIES

Drawing attention to the confusion of the gathering and accommodation areas determined after the disaster, Kahraman said:

“The gathering areas and temporary accommodation areas are always confused with each other. Take the Sisli area for example. Those who know Istanbul well know that we only have cemeteries in the Sisli region that can be a gathering area, unfortunately, this has become whole Istanbul. The Ferikoy Cemetery, the Armenian Cemetery in Mecidiyekoy, as well as the Zincirlikuyu Cemetery are our only gathering areas in the Sisli region in Istanbul. Now, Istanbul residents are rightly turning to us saying, ‘Are we going to gather in cemeteries?’ Yes, these gathering areas will be used for a temporary period, especially for a period of up to 72 hours to reduce panic and ensure coordination there. Those who have no problems in their buildings, those who are found to have no problems, will return to their buildings, but those who are found to have problems in their buildings will be evacuated from these areas to temporary accommodation areas along with evacuation corridors. They will remain in these areas until the final accommodation areas, namely their final residences, are produced.”

Source: Emlakkulisi / Translated by Irem Yildiz

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