Important warnings from IMM regarding the expected Istanbul earthquake: Which are the riskiest and safest districts?

Murat Yün, Head of the Earthquake Risk Management and Urban Improvement Department of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB), made statements on Ekol TV regarding the expected major Marmara earthquake.

Noting that Istanbul is not prepared for an earthquake, Yün stated that 850 thousand of the 1 million 200 thousand residences across the city were built before the year 2000 and that Istanbul's building stock is very old.

"92 THOUSAND BUILDINGS RENEWED IN 12 YEARS"

Stating that the number of buildings renewed in 12 years under the urban transformation law is 92 thousand, Yün said, "When you put 92 thousand next to 850 thousand, it means a renewal rate of 12-13 percent. With these numbers, we cannot say that Istanbul is ready for an earthquake," he stated.

"200 THOUSAND BUILDINGS COULD COLLAPSE"

Murat Yün stated, "When we evaluate both the ground and the building stock together, we conducted an earthquake damage assessment using various mathematical software. We project that in an earthquake of 7.5 magnitude or higher, approximately 200 thousand buildings will sustain heavy damage or collapse."

"3 MILLION PEOPLE COULD FACE A HOUSING PROBLEM"

Yün also stated that if 200 thousand buildings are damaged, approximately 3 million people will face a housing problem.

ISTANBUL'S MOST AT-RISK AND SAFEST DISTRICTS

Discussing the most at-risk districts in Istanbul, Yün stated that districts closer to the Sea of Marmara and those in the south of the city are at greater risk. Regarding the high-risk districts, Yün said, "Avcılar, Küçükçekmece, Büyükçekmece, Esenyurt, Silivri... In fact, we can talk about the entire line from Fatih to Silivri."

Emphasizing that the northern part of Istanbul has more solid ground, Yün stated, "The ground is more solid in places like Başakşehir, Arnavutköy, Çatalca, Sarıyer, and Beşiktaş."