More buildings adopting identification system

ISTANBUL

More and more buildings in Turkey are being integrated into a system that will help authorities get information immediately about these structures and residences in case of an earthquake.

Under the Building Identification System, each building is assigned a unique QR code, with chips installed that store information such as who lives in the building and floor plans.

Nearly 27,000 buildings have adopted the system to date across Turkey since the Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change Ministry launched it a year ago.

The QR codes and chips have been assigned and installed primarily into the newly constructed buildings. Some 2,600 buildings in Istanbul have been added to the system. Experts believe a major and powerful earthquake in Istanbul, home to more than 15 million people, is imminent.

In the southern province of Antalya, 1,900 buildings joined the program, while in İzmir, Turkey’s third-largest city by population where some 120 people were killed in an earthquake in 2020, another 1,900 structures were assigned the codes and chips.

Authorities decided to develop the system after 21 people were killed when a building collapsed in Istanbul’s Kartal district in 2019. They found that some floors in the collapsed building were built without permission.

The identification system allows potential homebuyers and tenants to access technical information about the apartment they plan to buy or rent.

That information is provided through signboards or ID cards, developed by Turkey’s major defense company ASELSAN, that are hung on the buildings.

The system also helps authorities prevent illegal construction.