Imamoglu asks Istanbul residents to allow investigation of buildings
The mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, called on the population to have the buildings constructed before 1999 examined by the municipality. That year, a major earthquake struck a city near Istanbul, possibly leaving significant damage in Istanbul as well, putting homes at risk.
After two major earthquakes in Maras that killed nearly 40,000 people, many people's eyes are now focused on a probable earthquake in Istanbul, for which the experts give a high probability.
Imamoglu said the percentage of the buildings which were examined were considerably low.
"This is a life-and-death situation," Imamoglu said in a tweet, in which he also shared a video of a city team testing the strength of a building.
"This is my call to the people of Istanbul: let us check the buildings at risk. So far, people have only allowed 29,000 of the 107,000 buildings built before 1999 to be scanned. We need to see the real picture and find solutions together”
Bu hayat meselesi başka bir şey değil.
— Ekrem İmamoğlu (@ekrem_imamoglu) February 18, 2023
İstanbullulara çağrımdır, riskli yapıları taramamıza izin verin. Şu ana kadar, 1999 öncesi yapılmış 107 bin binadan ne yazık ki sadece 29 bini tarama yapmamızı kabul etti. Gerçek tabloyu görmek ve birlikte çözüm üretmek zorundayız. pic.twitter.com/uI3To3gMeO
Imamoglu said on Friday, "Earthquakes are a scientific phenomenon and this danger also applies to Istanbul. After the disaster, the responsible managers cry out on TV, and the quarter-century-old government defends itself by saying this was fate, just to escape responsibility."
