Cyprus to speed up repairs to high-rises amid quake worries

Cypriot authorities will spend more than 100 million euros ($106 million) to repair dozens of dilapidated high-rise housing units built decades ago for refugees from the island's 1974 Turkish invasion, officials said Thursday.

Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said the plan foresees immediate repairs or complete reconstruction of 43 buildings deemed to be most at risk. He spoke after a meeting with lawmakers, engineers, municipal officials and representatives of thousands of displaced persons.

Repairs will eventually be carried out to 315 other apartment buildings erected in the immediate aftermath of the invasion, which was triggered by a coup aimed at union with Greece and has left the island divided along ethnic lines.

The buildings were among dozens of housing estates hastily constructed throughout the southern part of the island to shelter 160,000...