Turkey: Co-financing for the ISMEP Project to promote preparedness for an earthquake in Istanbul

The funds allocated by the Bank will be used to finance the reconstruction of 90 state schools and 2 student campuses so as to provide infrastructure that is safer and more resistant to high magnitude earthquakes for almost 150 000 young people.

This action comes within the framework of the ISMEP Project (Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness Project), a truly strategic tool set up by the Turkish authorities to strengthen the response capacity of the City of Istanbul in the event of an earthquake through measures to mitigate the impact of such an event. Launched in 2005 with the help of the World Bank, the ISMEP Project is co-financed by the EIB and by the CEB. Among other things, it provides for the strengthening of institutional and technical capacities for emergency action and imposes the requirement to enhance compliance with anti-seismic building standards. 

Over a period of some twenty years, the ISMEP Project should thus transform Istanbul, which is situated on the North Anatolian fault and has already experienced destructive earthquakes in the past, and thereby enable the city’s preparedness for a major earthquake.

Since the Republic of Turkey joined the CEB in 1956, 177 projects have been approved in favour of the country for an accumulated amount of 5.928 billion euros.