Turkey is in the midst of a debate on how its biggest city, Istanbul, should prepare for an earthquake. In 1999, an earthquake struck about 50 miles from Istanbul, killing 17 thousand people. In Istanbul, cracks from the earthquake still mark residents' balconies. Like San Francisco or LA, newspapers and academics predict that a huge earthquake will hit Istanbul sometime in the near future.

Istanbul is a massive city. About fifteen million people live 3 million apartments. Civil engineers predict that two million of those apartments – two thirds of all the apartments in Istanbul – could fall in a major earthquake. So the government recently passed a law granting it eminent domain in neighborhoods where there is a high risk of earthquake damage. Zeytinburnu is one of the riskiest neighborhoods. It's soil is sandy. It's buildings are old and haphazardly built. And it's only 20 miles away from the faultline. The government has told the residents of Zeytinburnu, they have to move.

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