Podcast2009 survey foreshadowed quake destruction in İzmir's hardest-hit district
A 2009 report hinted at the mass destruction experienced in the Oct. 30 earthquake in Aegean İzmir, including the Bayraklı district that observed the most ruin. The study revealed that 1,490 buildings in the surveyed areas were structurally unsound.
Duvar English
A 2009 study into the structural soundness of construction in İzmir's high-risk areas revealed that thousands of buildings presented fatal risk, in particular the Bayraklı district that saw the greatest ruin after the Oct. 30 earthquake, daily Milliyet reported on Nov. 6.
Carried out by Turkey's Construction Engineers' Chamber, the study revealed that 1,490 buildings in the surveyed areas were structurally unsound.
Meanwhile only 15 out of 696 buildings in the Bayraklı district were constructed safely, foreshadowing the destruction that the region saw in the earthquake of Oct. 30.
"Majority of our current construction is made up of illegal buildings, so the government should create policy to enforce these," the report noted.
The report urged the government to subsidize re-enforcement work and to create awareness among residents against the risk of unsafe construction, as well as earthquake preparations.
Former mayor of Bayraklı district Hasan Karabağ said that he had no recollection of the report, although the work was carried out in collaboration with the governor's office.
Building that collapsed in İzmir quake reported 'unsound' a decade ago