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Only 9 percent of houses in Van were insured against earthquake, officials say. Particularly the old houses not only in the earthquake-hit province, but the whole country are theathening lives of millions, experts warn.
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Less than 10 percent of the houses in the quake-stricken eastern province of Van were insured, according to the top executive at Turkey’s main earthquake insurance authority.
“Only 7,318 out of the houses out of the total of 84,000 in the province were insured,” Selamet Yazıcı, the board chairman of the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool (TCIP), told Anatolia news agency yesterday.
“This would mean only 9 percent of the houses are insured,” he said, noting that house insurance rates were lowest in the eastern region of the country.
A 7.2-magnitude earthquake on Oct. 23 leveled buildings across the province, killing at least 279 people and injuring at least 1,300 more.
Yazıcı also announced that the insurance payments would start within two weeks for people whose houses were slightly damaged by the earthquake. Payments for houses damaged significantly will be deposited in one month, he said.
The number of insured houses in the worst-hit district of Erciş is 1,303 while the number is 1,145 in the province’s Edremit district, Yazıcı said.
Despite the lower number of insured homes in Edremit, the insurance policy rate is surprisingly high at 39 percent – largely because there are more newly built houses in the area.
According to Yazıcı, the main reasons for poor insurance in the province is basically related to a lack of awareness, low income and fewer inspections compared with other parts of the country.
There are seven ready-concrete companies in central Van and three more in Erciş that do not uphold safety regulations and are not members of the Turkish Ready-Concrete Union, according to Ayhan Güleryüz, the head of the association.
“If these companies were members of our organization, then we could inspect them,” Güleryüz told Anatolia.
The association may provide free training to technicians working at the concrete companies in the region, he added.
‘Law should change’
Işık Gökkaya, chairman of the Real Estate Investment Trusts Association (GYODER), said Turkey should urgently study the number of unsafe buildings and added that 45 percent of houses in the country had already exceeded their life span.
A current law prevents old buildings from being demolished even if a single apartment cannot be convinced to leave, the chairman said.
“The buildings with no insurance should not be donated licenses. It is time we begin to feel the enforcement power of the state,” he also said.
Turkey’s state-run property developer, TOKİ, announced that none of its projects in Van were damaged. The company is building 5,996 residences, nine schools, 80 barns, six mosques, nine sports facilities, six malls, three social facilities, six hospitals and 23 police stations there.
TOKİ can only meet 20 percent of Turkey’s urgent housing demand, according to Nazmi Durbakayım, head of the Istanbul Builders’ Association (İNDER). “Maybe Turkey can find a second TOKİ to reduce the risks,” he said.
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Source : hurriyetdailynews.com
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