AA photo
Officials in the northwestern province of Sakarya began cutting off electricity, water, natural gas and phone services yesterday to 1,301 buildings moderately damaged in the Aug. 17, 1999, earthquake.Building owners who failed to obtain a license demonstrating their properties were structurally reinforced before Dec. 31, 2009, were granted a grace period to evacuate their properties. This time period was set to expire yesterday. Authorities also identified two mosques in the area which will need to be demolished.
Earlier reports had indicated that roughly 20,000 buildings constructed in accordance with older and looser regulations were at risk of collapse during an earthquake in the province’s Adapazarı, Serdivan, Erenler and Arifiye districts.
