After quakes in Turkey's south claimed 50,000 lives, the race is on to protect its biggest city.
Mesut Muttaliboglu's building in Istanbul failed a recent earthquake safety test - and now he has to move outThe crack in Mesut Muttaliboglu's bedroom wall is so wide, he can fit a car key into it.
Around 70% of the city's buildings were built before rule changes that enforced stricter construction standards in 1999, and so are considered potentially unsafe. Just three months ago, a study said a quake here could kill up to 90,000 people. Now, the race is on to get the city ready. "The municipality had sent us written warning about it, but the situation wasn't resolved due to rejections from the neighbours. We knew that our utilities were going to be shut off, and we were ready to leave here, but then the quake happened and it all became a shambles."
The city's mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, has promised more training for rescue teams, and preparation of temporary shelters that could house up to 4.5 million people in the aftermath of a quake. But many fear it still isn't enough.Engineers like Dr Kurtulus Atasever warn many of Istanbul's buildings have architectural features that weaken their structure
Good quality concrete is vital, he tells me. And the architecture is crucial. "We have some overhangs here. In this type of building we have some weak or soft storeys. There are short columns too, they are actually all typical building problems." We're standing in the shadow of Yasemin Suleymanoglu's house, and I ask if she's concerned about the apartment block it's in. She holds her daughter's hand and looks up at the face of the building. "I don't feel safe here," she says.
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