29 Istanbul schools closed after earthquake

ISTANBUL

Some 29 schools in Istanbul have been closed temporarily due to structural damage caused by the 5.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the city last week.

The Istanbul governor’s office said in a statement that the students would continue their education in other schools as of Oct. 1.

Last week, the authorities analyzed a total of 114 schools that had been reported to have damage due to the earthquake. As a result of their inspections, the Environment and Urbanization Ministry officials determined that 29 of these schools were damaged, with 20 having minor damage and nine having major damage.

The authorities are now looking into which school buildings will be rebuilt and which ones will be renovated.

“In these schools, education was given a day off on Sept. 30 Monday. For the education services to be conducted without disruption, the necessary plans were made by the provincial national education directorate. As of Sept. 30 Monday, 2 p.m., the public will be notified about which schools the students will continue their education starting on Oct. 1, 2019 Tuesday,” said the Istanbul governor’s office in a statement on Sept. 29.

Not only schools, but also hospital buildings, public buildings and civilian structures were analyzed by the authorities, said the governor’s office.

Accordingly, out of the nine hospitals with reported damage, seven were determined to have no damage, one has minor damage and one has heavy damage in its administrative unit, according to the statement.

“It has been determined that of the 21 other public buildings that were reported [to the authorities] to be damaged, 12 others have no damages, one has minor damages and four have heavy damages (three are mosques and one is a mosque outbuilding). In another four buildings, analyses are continuing,” it said.

The earthquake on Sept. 26 took place at a depth of 6.99 kilometers, some 21.68 kilometers from the district of Silivri.

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) assessed the magnitude of the earthquake at 5.8, whereas the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute at a magnitude of 5.7.