Sharjah24 - AFP : The 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey's southeast and killed tens of thousands has rekindled concerns that Istanbul could experience a similarly catastrophic earthquake.
Seismologists warn that a massive earthquake is likely to strike Turkey's biggest city -- officially home to 16 million people but estimated to hold up to 20 million -- by 2030.
The city lies on the northern edge of one of Turkey's main fault lines and is densely packed.
A 7.6-magnitude earthquake with an epicentre on the city's eastern outskirts killed more than 17,000 people in 1999. The number of Istanbulites has roughly doubled since then.
Independent urban scholar Murat Guney said carnage can be avoided if the government has the political will to relocate people from shoddy buildings filling the city's shanty towns.
Guney said Istanbul had an ample supply of vacant properties just recently constructed and strong enough to withstand major jolts.
Procrastination could spell doom, he said.
"A major earthquake of up to 7.5 magnitude is expected in Istanbul. Such an earthquake may cause the death of hundreds of thousands of residents while estimates about the number of buildings that will totally collapse or be severely damaged range from 50,000 to 200,000," Guney said .
"Those high-risk buildings, which are mostly squatter style and not resistant to earthquakes needed immediate transformation before they collapse even following a minor earthquake."
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