Erdogan: Residents of 1.5 million houses in Istanbul will be resettled as part of renovation program

Turkish authorities plan to resettle residents of 1.5 million Istanbul houses within five years as part of a renovation program, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the presentation of the roadmap for the renovation of the housing stock of the 16-million-strong metropolis, Report informs via TASS.

A total of 600,000 earthquake-resistant houses will be built as a matter of priority, he said.

"There are about 7.5 million buildings in Istanbul, including 6 million residential buildings, 600,000 of them should be renovated as a matter of priority. Our goal is to resettle the residents of 1.5 million houses that are considered dangerous for living within five years," he said.

The Turkish authorities began developing a plan for the construction of earthquake-resistant housing in specially designated areas after the devastating February earthquakes in the southeast of the country. Seismologists are constantly warning about the possibility of an earthquake in the Istanbul area with a magnitude of 7 or higher.