Turkey has to become earthquake-savvy nation, experts say

According to official figures, about 18,000 people died in the earthquake that registered 7.4 on the Richter scale and took place at 3:02 a.m. on Aug. 17, 1999, with its epicenter in Gölcük. It caused much damage and destruction and took many lives in Kocaeli, Gölcük, Düzce, Sakarya, Yalova and İstanbul. The earthquake brought down 112,000 buildings, and in İstanbul left 124 structures damaged. However, the country has been slow to reinforce weak buildings in most residential areas, a common criticism from experts and civil society groups.

Doğan Kalafat, the director of the Kandilli Observatory’s National Earthquake Monitoring Center, said, “We have the obligation to become a society that has a strong awareness of earthquakes and that lives in strong buildings.” Speaking at a panel discussion on Monday in Gölcük, Kalafat said on average 25 earthquakes are recorded in Turkey daily and that earthquakes of magnitude 6 or higher occur every 10 years.

Stressing that the nation has to learn how to protect itself from earthquakes, Kalafat said everyone should question if the building they live in is strong enough to withstand a powerful earthquake. “We have the obligation to become a society that has a strong awareness of earthquakes and that lives in strong buildings. We have to pass this culture on to our children.

Making a building earthquake resistant adds not more than 10 percent to the cost. The ground on which it is built and the type of building to be built should be questioned,” he said. Kalafat also pointed to difficulties that have occurred regarding the state of damaged buildings. He claimed that some inspectors had issued “medium to mild damage” reports to heavily damaged buildings. He also noted that marshy ground or wetlands do nothing to reduce the strength of an earthquake, while rocky ground absorbs the seismic shockwave, thereby alleviating the destructiveness of the quake. He spoke against building anything on ground prone to liquefaction.

The earthquake brought down 112,000 buildings and left 124 structures in İstanbul damaged. However, the country has been slow to reinforce weak buildings in most residential areas, a common criticism from experts and civil society alike.

Professor Haluk Eyidoğan, the former head of the Earthquake Council, said 45 percent of Turkey’s population lives in earthquake zones, noting that the country could never afford to forget about the risk posed by this. He said serious problems have been encountered in damage assessment of buildings after the earthquake, adding that this work should only be carried out by teams of experts. The professor said the technology exists to reinforce damaged buildings.

Ahmet Ercan, the head of the Turkey branch of the Global Network for the Forecasting of Earthquakes, said only 10 percent of the buildings in İstanbul have been checked for earthquake resistance. “We still don’t know what will happen to the remaining 90 percent when an earthquake strikes. The overall condition of the 10 percent is also not very pleasant. The building inspections should be completed as quickly as possible,” he said.

Ercan said the pain of those who lost loved ones in the 1999 quake is still fresh. He said many things have changed over the past 11 years and that no one can say that nothing has been done. He said changes to earthquake regulations were a major development. “A construction inspection agency was founded.

This was something that had never happened before. This is a very big development. There were great improvements enabling the Housing Development Administration of Turkey [TOKİ] to build earthquake-resistant homes. These were applied all across Turkey. An earthquake tax was introduced over these past 11 years. About $45 billion has been collected so far,” he said.

He also said earthquake awareness had risen both among the public and the administration. “We have become a society with the best earthquake awareness in the world. However, people do not have the opportunity to reinforce their own buildings because they don’t have the money for it.”

He said illegal contractors were still being arrested in İstanbul. “This is İstanbul’s fate. These buildings should be inspected. Some laws were passed later than they should have. For example, the law that gives the state the right to demolish your building without your consent if it is not strong enough was passed only recently. It was passed with an 11-year delay. This is why urban transformation could not be completely realized.” He said the buildings in İstanbul that can currently be reinforced should be made ready to resist an earthquake with a magnitude of up to 7.5.

Ercan said three technical universities are currently in charge of construction inspections, and suggested integrating the private sector into this system. “It is important to speed up the process of inspecting buildings. We have lagged behind badly over the past 11 years. Those who have the money had their buildings inspected, but those who don’t couldn’t.”