Turkey will not issue permits to build new houses in regions close to seismically active faults, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday
ISTANBUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th February, 2023) Turkey will not issue permits to build new houses in regions close to seismically active faults, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.
"We will not permit building in zones which are close to the seismic faults, and also in those, which are prone to soil liquefaction," Erdogan said, adding that "the construction of high-rise buildings in previously built-up areas will be prohibited."
The Turkish president promised to start building 30,000 apartments in March with the maximum height of the new buildings not exceeding three or four floors.
On February 6, devastating magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes hit the province of Kahramanmaras in south-east Turkey, killing over 44,000 people and destroying thousands of buildings. The initial underground shocks were followed by hundreds of aftershocks and were felt in 11 provinces of the country as well as in the neighboring countries, with Syria the most affected. Erdogan said more than 10,000 aftershocks have been registered since February 6.
Mustafa Sentop, the speaker of the Turkish parliament, called on the Turkish authorities and construction companies to draw lessons from the disaster and build seismically resilient houses only. Turkey's Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change also announced the development of new reconstruction plans for the country's 11 provinces affected by the disaster with the number of floors restricted.
Plans for new cities as well as ideas for their possible location are also being considered.
