Ankara, Aug 17 (IANS): Nearly six million independent building units in Turkey are at risk of earthquake destruction, and two million of them require immediate renovation, Turkish Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum said.

There are a total of 36 million independent units and 31 million houses in Turkey, the semi-official Anadolu Agency quoted the Minister as saying on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to Kurum, the Turkish government has constructed 3.4 million modern earthquake-resistant homes and is currently building 250,000 transformation houses and social housing units "in the most robust, safe and healthy way".

A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake jolted southern Turkey and Syria at midnight on February 6, 2023, followed by a 7.7-magnitude one on February 7 noon. In Turkey, the quakes devastated 11 provinces, killing more than 53,000 people and displacing millions.

In 1999, an earthquake measuring 7.6 struck Kocaeli province in northwestern Turkey, 90 km southeast of the country's biggest populated city, Istanbul, killing more than 17,000 people. Since then, experts have been warning of a massive earthquake in the vicinity of Istanbul.

"A possible Istanbul earthquake will affect not only our city but also the whole Marmara region and even the whole of Turkey," Kurum said.

"We have completed our risk analyses in 39 districts of Istanbul, and we have seen that one-fifth of the total number of houses in this city, that is, nearly 1.5 million houses, are in unhealthy condition," said the Minister.

The government has transformed some of the 1.5 million risky buildings in Istanbul and increased the earthquake resistance of public buildings, including education and health structures, he added.