Earthquakes were naturally the No. 1 item on the agenda of the first meeting for the National Risk Shield Model, a program aiming to boost preparedness and resistance against future disasters, from floods and landslides to drought and forest fires.
Nearly one month after the two deadly earthquakes claimed thousands of lives in Türkiye’s south, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday hosted a group of experts at the Dolmabahçe presidential office in Istanbul, a few days after he announced the launch of the program.
Speaking at the meeting, Erdoğan said Türkiye was going through a difficult period following the impact of two earthquakes and about 12,000 aftershocks. "We have the sorrow of the loss of more than 45,000 citizens and 115,000 others injured. We are working day and night to heal the wounds stemming from this disaster that directly affected the lives of about 14 million people and forced 3.5 million people to migrate to other cities," he said.
Erdoğan said they were in the process of rebuilding and rubble removal following the conclusion of search and rescue efforts. "Once the damage assessment work is completed, we will have a clear picture of how many new residences we should construct. Currently, there are 214,000 buildings either demolished or heavily damaged and in the need of demolition," Erdoğan said.
He said the rebuilding was underway in new areas in affected provinces. "We are relocating cities to areas with stable ground, from plains to the mountains," he said. Erdoğan also underlined that rebuilt areas would adhere to the rule of "horizontal architecture," with buildings consisting of four floors at most, in building complexes constructed by the Housing Development Administration (TOKİ). He said they were consulting with scientists and engineers in the rebuilding process.
The model will guide Türkiye to review measures in areas under risk from disasters and include steps to be taken during and after the disasters. Scientists from around Türkiye and the world and technical personnel from the country’s public agencies specialized in the prevention and reduction of fallout from disasters will be involved in shaping the model. The Ministry of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change will be coordinating the creation of the model.
Erdoğan said they also considered including more "crises" to combat while devising the risk model. "We should include planning against pandemics, terrorism, migration flow and economic crisis as well. We have to consider terrorism trouble we are exposed to due to the region's geopolitics and social chaos. We need to adapt an approach beyond politics," Erdoğan said. Along with the technical approach, the model will derive from the views and proposals of sociology experts.
Professor Orhan Tatar, earthquake and risk reduction department head at Türkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) says it is a “national mobilization move” and urged every specialist to contribute to the model. Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) ahead of Friday’s meeting, Tatar said they needed healthy contributions by everyone, from decision-makers to academics, scientists and other experts for the process. “Every city has different disasters they can be exposed to in the future. (The state) has done a lot of work to prevent the fallout but we still have work to do,” he said.
Most of Türkiye is located on the Anatolian tectonic plate, which sits between two major plates, the Eurasian and African, and a minor one, the Arabian. As the larger African and Arabian plates shift Türkiye is being literally squeezed, while the Eurasian plate impedes any northward movement. Thus, Türkiye sits on several fault lines.
Türkiye also risks aggravating forest fires amid concerns over climate change that intensifies the severity and size of fires, while floods because of unprecedented precipitation claimed dozens of lives in the country’s north in 2021.
