For a city with a high earthquake risk, the seven-story apartment building in Istanbul’s Bostancı district seemed a relatively safe choice when graduate student Yiğit looked for a place to rent last year. The owner of the unit informed him that the 40-year-old building, a former housing for state tax collectors, had been seismically strengthened after a deadly 1999 earthquake.
But after two cataclysmic earthquakes struck Turkey’s southeastern region on February 6, residents decided to have the building inspected “just to be safe,” Yiğit said. The result came three weeks later: the apartment was in serious danger of collapsing and had to be cleared and demolished. The dilemma for Yiğit and his roommate was where to move.
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