26 years have passed, the pain is still fresh: Those who lost their lives in the earthquake were commemorated in Sakarya

The August 17, 1999 Marmara Earthquake commemoration program was held at Sakarya Democracy Square. The program, which began with a moment of silence and the National Anthem for the earthquake martyrs, continued with the recitation of the Holy Quran, hymns, and elegies. Citizens were reminded of that night through a short film prepared from footage recorded after the earthquake. Many people could not hold back their tears during the screening, which was filled with emotional moments.

"WE MUST BE PREPARED AND CAUTIOUS"

Speaking at the commemoration program, Sakarya Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Yusuf Alemdar said, "We have not forgotten, and we will not let it be forgotten. The August 17, 1999 earthquake took tens of thousands of our lives in our region and our province. Hundreds of thousands were injured, and it left millions of our people homeless. While we were waiting to wake up to the morning with different dreams, we were faced with an unexpected disaster. And today, 26 years have passed. As some of us remember the past, as we remember that day, we recall the sorrow of the lives we lost, the pain of our wounded at that time, and the fear, anxiety, and lost psychology of our people. As we always state, earthquakes do not kill, disasters do not kill. If we want to walk towards the future with confident steps and live in solid and safe environments, we must take precautions. We need to know well the ground, the building structure, and the resistance of the region we live in against natural disasters. We are in a disaster zone; we will not forget the possibility of new earthquakes in this region. Therefore, we must be cautious and prepared before every disaster occurs. Following the disaster we experienced 26 years ago, very serious work has been done both in our city and in our country. While these efforts aim to create resilient buildings on one hand, and livable cities and readiness for disasters on the other, every institution of our state is doing its part. While we work for transformation in our city, we are also trying to prepare our citizens for before, after, and during a disaster. We are trying to prepare our city and our buildings. We know that we will face disasters in this region again. We must succeed in the transformation of this city to ensure that we do not leave tens of thousands of our lives wounded and millions of our people homeless again," he said.

"EARTHQUAKES ARE TURKEY'S MOST IMPORTANT REALITY"

Sakarya Deputy Governor Dr. İsmail Altan Demirayak said, "With this commemoration event, we also aim to reinforce a sense of solidarity in our society and create disaster awareness in the face of earthquakes. On the occasion of this event, we underline and emphasize the following: the earthquake is Turkey's most important agenda and reality. It is of great importance to show the highest level of awareness, sensitivity, and responsiveness in our society regarding earthquakes. 92 percent of our country's geography is under the influence of earthquake fault lines. And 95 percent of Turkey's population is under earthquake risk. Therefore, we are obliged to create disaster awareness at both the societal and state levels. Our Sakarya has learned important lessons from the 1999 earthquake and is implementing horizontal architecture and construction in a significant way. Hopefully, as our Metropolitan Mayor also stated, if urban transformation is achieved, we will be prepared in terms of risk reduction against these earthquakes. Of course, it is important to remember these pains with such events, but it is also important to learn lessons from them," he said.

News Source: İHA