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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Andrei Popoviciu in Bucharest and Carmen Aguilar García

Revealed: Bucharest tourists hiring rentals that could collapse in an earthquake

Postwar Soviet-style architecture in Bucharest
Experts believe a major earthquake in Bucharest is inevitable and warn of unsafe building stock. Photograph: Universal History Archive

Tourists in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, are staying in illegal accommodation listed on Airbnb and Booking.com in buildings considered so seismically vulnerable they could collapse in the event of a major earthquake, according to exclusive data shared with the Guardian.

Analysis of data collected by Re:Rise, a Romanian organisation working on seismic risk reduction, identified at least 207 illegal tourist rental properties advertised across the two platforms in Bucharest at the end of May, with a combined capacity to host more than 1,000 visitors each night.

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