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An abandoned building owned by Turkish Cypriot, the inner walls no longer exist and covered in greenery, in Nicosia, the last divided capital of the world. Image: AFP / AMIR MAKAR.
On the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where abandoned and dilapidated buildings are reminders of crisis and conflict, recent seismic activity has worried residents.
A powerful earthquake in the Aegean Sea washed away buildings in nearby Turkey and Greece in late October, killing more than 100 people.
Another earthquake this month, whose epicenter was 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of the island, shook even the inland capital of Nicosia, Europe’s last divided capital.
The Cypriots have begun to raise the alarm.
“Severely damaged houses are a danger to public safety, especially in the event of an earthquake,” said Andreas Theodotou, president of the Cyprus Association of Civil Engineers.
“Our main concern is the stock of old buildings that were built before the application of the Cypriot seismic code in 1994 … A large majority,” he said.
More than 70% of buildings predate seismic construction standards, according to a 2018 civil defense report, and more than half of the stone structures could be lost in a major earthquake.
Traditional stone buildings, faded wooden shutters, and walls sometimes marked with bullet holes dot the Cyprus landscape, along with more modern constructions.
History of tremors
A myriad of factors led to the deterioration of buildings across the island.
In 1974, Turkey invaded and occupied the northern third of Cyprus in response to an Athenian-sponsored coup that sought to annex the island to Greece.
The Turkish Cypriots fled to the north, now the separatist Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Ankara, and the Greek Cypriots to the south.
The UN-sponsored deal negotiations last collapsed in 2017 and many buildings remain empty.
Family disputes over inheritance, preferences for more modern housing and the Cyprus economic crisis of 2013 have also resulted in an abundance of dilapidated or dilapidated buildings.
Cyprus “is within the Alpine-Himalayan seismic zone, in which around 15% of the world’s earthquakes occur,” said Sylvana Pilidou, who works in the government’s geological studies department.
“Historical references and archaeological finds reveal that strong earthquakes hit Cyprus in the past, repeatedly destroying its cities,” he added.
A double earthquake in 1953 killed dozens, destroyed 1,600 homes and severely damaged 10,000 buildings.
Lack of maintenance
Savvas Louka, a butcher in Nicosia’s Old Town, where Venetian walls, Ottoman buildings and more modern architecture reflect the island’s history, is among those interested.
Last year, a building that overlooked his store collapsed after heavy rains.
“My building is not in good condition either,” he said.
Also in the Old City, architect Savvas Christophidis said authorities intervened this year to save the walls of the house next door, the abandoned home of Turkish Cypriots living in the north.
The roof and interior of the house, whose double doors lead to a garden with a single palm tree, had already collapsed, Christophidis said.
More than 6,350 homes are classified as protected cultural heritage, according to official figures from 2018.
But it is not only the Old City that is in danger.
“The coastal cities … are in a higher seismic zone,” said Platonas Stylianou, secretary general of the Cyprus Chamber of Science and Technology.
However, he warned that all the decrepit, old and abandoned buildings in Cyprus are at risk and could face “extensive damage or even collapse during a major earthquake.”
While the new buildings incorporate European seismic standards, Stylianou lamented the “lack of a culture” of regular maintenance.
“The measures appear to be implemented only when buildings are declared dangerous to public safety or are approaching this stage.”
Stavroula Thravalou, a specialist in architecture and heritage preservation at the University of Cyprus, said that incentives such as tax deductions for building maintenance were not enough.
“We have to go further, with a strategy of reuse and revitalization of abandoned buildings and neighborhoods if we want to restore ties with residents,” he said. DC
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