Earthquake law is necessary for Istanbul,says mayor !

Wednesday, March 10,2010
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

An earthquake law especially for Istanbul should be come into force, according to the city's mayor who said he was planning to discuss it with the prime minister.

Kadir Topbaş said Istanbul should be prepared for a 7.5 earthquake and that without a preparedness law the entire county would be devastated if the city were hit, daily Hürriyet reported Thursday.

“Turkey will regress if an earthquake hits Istanbul, and this is why a law specifically for the country's biggest city should be introduced. Otherwise, we cannot solve this problem,” said Topbaş.

Public buildings, viaducts, bridges and schools in Istanbul are prepared against an earthquake, said Topbaş, adding that because of a law state, they cannot intervene with private properties. “Citizen participation is important at this point. We should solve this problem together with the help of a special law,” said Topbaş.

Strengthening buildings one by one is not a solution, and areas should be evaluated lot by lot, according to Topbaş. Some 156,000 buildings in Istanbul have been evaluated so far, he said.

Topbaş summed up some of the measures, saying at 93 points along the city’s steel pipeline system the ability to cut the natural gas supply in case of fire and emergency would be installed. Also, automatic gates to cut the gas supply would to be installed at 675 regional sites. Over 100 helicopter aerodromes would be established, and ferries would be used as hospitals. Around 75,000 people would receive training about fire, rescue and first aid. The number of firemen would be increased from 292 to 581 over five years, and the number of stations for watching and recording earthquakes would be increased from nine to 18.

All these preparations would cost 1.1 billion Turkish Liras.

Damages

In a possible quake in Istanbul, it is estimated that 10,000 buildings would be severely damaged, 34,000 buildings would suffer moderate damage, and 350,000 buildings would experience light damage. Around 528,000 families would be homeless after an earthquake.

A total of 10 districts, namely Avcılar, Küçükçekmece, Fatih, Eminönü, Bakırköy, Bayrampaşa, Adalar, Beyoğlu, Zeytinburnu and Bahçelievler are under severe risk, according to estimates by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com / Portal Turkey