While earthquake sicentists have been warning about the Marmara Earthquake for many years, one after another earthquake and many aftershocks occurred in Istanbul on 23 April. In the morning hours, an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.9 occured in the Marmara Sea off the coast of Silivri, followed by another earthquake with a magnitude of 6.2 in the same region. 

 

The fact that thousands of citizens of Istanbul spent the night on the streets after the earthquake brought the question "Are we ready for an earthquake?" to mind once again. While experts warned that there is a very serious risk especially in Bahçelievler and Fatih districts of Istanbul with their building stock, according to the report of TMMOB Chamber of Civil Engineers, a significant part of the large-scale gathering areas in the city have been zoned and buildings such as shopping malls and housing projects have been built in these areas. According to the information provided by TMMOB, there are currently 77 assembly areas in Istanbul that meet the criteria, and a significant portion of the places listed by AFAD are small parks or open spaces that are too small to accommodate crowded groups.

 

PROMISES NOT KEPT

 

Due to the geography built on active fault lines, many major earthquakes have occured throughout the history of the republic. Turkey and Kurdistan cities suffered heavy destruction and loss of life. According to official figures, 53 thousand 537 people lost their lives, hundreds of thousands of people were injured and tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed in 11 cities in two earthquakes that occurred on 6 Febryary 2023 Bazarcix (Pazarcik) and Elbistan districts of Mereş (Maraş)

 

AKP Chair and Presiden Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that 319 thousand houses would be built and delivered to the earthquake victims within a year after the earthquake. However, Murat Kurum, Minister of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change, announced that as of 24 January 2025, 201,580 houses, village houses and workplaces have been delivered in the earthquake zone.

 

While thousands of people are still living in container cities in the earthquake zone, the tents and containers set up for earthquake victims were flooded during the flood disaster in Semsur and Riha on 15 March 2023.

 

After the earthquake in Gölcük district of Kocaeli in 1999, new building regulations were introduced to make buildings more earthquake resistant. However, the collapse of newly constructed buildings during the earthquake raised public scepticism about building soundness standards. Despite these regulations, the government has periodically issued "zoning amnesties" for buildings built without the necessary safety certificates or often with additional illegal storeys. In the region affected by the 6 February earthquake, 75 thousand buildings were granted construction amnesty before the earthquake. According to urban planner Buğra Gökce, before the 2018 general elections, "zoning amnesty" was granted to 3.1 million buildings across the country, 294,165 in 10 provinces affected by the earthquake. Again, it was not made public where the 88 billion liras collected from the "earthquake tax", which was started to be collected for the development of disaster prevention and emergency services after the 1999 Gölcük earthquake, was spent. It was claimed that these funds were spent on motorway construction projects by companies close to the government.

 

REGULATIONS USED FOR RENT

 

The professional supervision practice of TMMOB, which is supposed to build and supervise cities, was changed with many amendments made in important legislation such as the "Law on the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects" No. 6235, the "Law on Building Supervision" No. 4708 and the Zoning Law No. 3194, the 2B Law on forest lands, and the "Whole City Law" during the AKP government period. With the amendment made to the Zoning Law No. 3194 in 2013, the supervision practice of TMMOB was abolished. Legal arrangements made under the name of earthquake precautions served the rent understanding of the contractors. With the "Law No. 6306 on the Transformation of Areas under Disaster Risk" that entered into force on 16 May 2012, new legal statuses such as risky areas and risky buildings were created. The new law made it a legal obligation to demolish and renovate buildings identified as risky buildings. However, the law that came into force was put into practice in areas with high market value before the risky areas, and the areas with high property values were prioritised in terms of property values, not the areas that needed urgent renovation.

 

JUDGEMENTS

 

While precautions against earthquakes were not taken, trials related to collapsed buildings resulted in impunity. After the 1999 Gölcük earthquake, approximately 2 thousand 100 lawsuits were filed against the contractors of the buildings that collapsed due to construction defects, 1 thousand 800 of these lawsuits went unpunished with the Conditional Release and Postponement Law known as "Rahşan Amnesty". In about one hundred and ten of the remaining three hundred cases, sentences were given and many of them were postponed. The remaining cases were dropped on 16 February 2007, after seven and a half years, due to the statute of limitations. In the trial concerning the demolition of Çewlig (Bingöl) in 2003, Bingöl High Criminal Court sentenced the school contractor Şeref Bozkuş to 3 and a half years in prison, the control engineer Şadiye Topçu and engineer İsmet Elhakan to 2 and a half years in prison on the charge of "negligently causing death". Six defendants were acquitted in the case. The Court of Cassation upheld the sentences given by the local court. After the verdict was upheld, Bozkuş was released after 1 and a half years in prison and Elhakan was released after 1 year in prison. In the lawsuit filed by the relatives of those who lost their lives, Elazığ Regional Administrative Court ruled that the Ministry of Education should pay compensation to the families ranging from 50 thousand to 120 thousand TL.

 

Similar judgements were made in the lawsuits filed against those responsible for other earthquakes.

 

The inadequacy of the precautions taken and the condition of the buildings in the geography where many destructive earthquakes have occurred throughout the history of the Republic and where there are active fault lines have always been the subject of discussion.

 

Some earthquakes and destructions throughout the history of the Republic;

 

"* On 13 September 1924, 60 people lost their lives in a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Erzirom (Erzurum) Hesenkeleh (Pasinler) district.

 

* On 7 May 1930, 2,514 people lost their lives and about 3 thousand buildings were damaged in the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Colemêrg (Hakkari).

 

* On 1 May 1935, 200 people were killed in a 6.2 magnitude earthquake in Dîgor district of Qers (Kars).

 

* On 19 April 1938, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Kırşehir, destroying 3,860 buildings and killing 224 people.

 

* In the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Erzingan (Erzincan) on 27 December 1939, 116 thousand 720 buildings were completely destroyed, 32 thousand 968 people lost their lives and more than 100 thousand people were injured.

 

* On 20 December 1942, 3 thousand people lost their lives in the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Niksar district of Tokat.

 

* On 20 June 1943, 336 people were killed in a 6.6 magnitude earthquake in Adapazarı and Hendek districts of Sakarya.

 

* On 27 November 1943, 4 thousand people lost their lives in the 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Kastamonu Tosya and Samsun Ladik districts.

 

* On 1 February 1944, 3,959 people lost their lives in the 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Bolu Gerede district.

 

* On 31 May 1946, 839 people lost their lives in the 5.9 magnitude earthquake in Gımgım district of Muş.

 

* On 17 August 1949, 450 people died and 3,500 buildings were damaged in the 6.8-magnitude earthquake in Çewlîg Kanîreş (Karlıova) district.

 

* On 19 August 1966, 2,394 people were killed in a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in Gimgim (Varto) district of Muş.

 

* One thousand 86 people died and one thousand 260 people were injured in the earthquake in Kütahya on 28 March 1970.

 

* In the 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Çewlîg on 22 May 1971, 878 people lost their lives, 700 people were injured and 9,111 buildings were damaged or destroyed.

 

* On 6 September 1975, 2,385 people lost their lives and 8149 buildings were damaged or destroyed in the 6.6-magnitude earthquake in Licê district of Amed (Diyarbakır).

 

* On 24 November 1976, 3,840 people lost their lives and 9,232 buildings were damaged in the 7.5-magnitude earthquake in Bêgirî (Muradiye) district of Wan (Van). 80 percent of the houses in an area of 2000 square kilometres were destroyed.

 

* On 30 October 1983, 1,155 people lost their lives, 537 people were injured, 3,241 houses were severely damaged, 3,000 houses were moderately damaged and 4,000 houses were slightly damaged in the 6.9 magnitude earthquake in Erzirom (Erzurum).

 

* In the 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Erzingan on 13 March 1992, 653 people lost their lives, 8057 buildings were damaged or destroyed.

 

* According to official reports, 17,480 people lost their lives and 23,781 people were injured in the 7.4 magnitude earthquake on 17 August 1999, the epicentre of which was Gölcük district of Kocaeli. According to a 2010 parliamentary research report, 18,373 people lost their lives.

 

* In the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Düzce on 12 November 1999, 845 people lost their lives, 4,948 people were injured and 12,939 houses were destroyed.

 

* In the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Çewlig on 1 May 2003, at least 176 people lost their lives and 625 buildings collapsed or were heavily damaged. When a ward block collapsed at a boarding school in Çeltiksuyu, 84 people lost their lives.

 

* In the 6.6-magnitude earthquake in Wan on 23 October 2011, 601 people lost their lives, 4,152 people were injured and 2,262 buildings collapsed.

 

* On 30 October 2020, 117 people lost their lives and 1,34 people were injured in Turkey, 2 people lost their lives and 19 people were injured in Greece in a 6.9 magnitude earthquake whose epicentre was off the coast of Samos Island in Greece."

 

In addition to these, earthquakes occurred in many cities such as Wan, Xarpet and Afyon where dozens of people lost their lives.

 

The promises made after each earthquake were forgotten after a short time.

 

MA / Tolga Guney