6-point emergency earthquake plan: A call from both İmamoğlu and Naci Görür

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) held the IMM-KİPTAŞ Urban Transformation Financial Support Package Protocol Signing Ceremony at the IMM Presidential building in Saraçhane. Speaking at the ceremony, IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu referred to the anniversary of the August 17, 1999 Marmara Earthquake, stating that the country has not learned enough lessons regarding earthquakes and has failed to take the necessary precautions. İmamoğlu stated, "To ensure that our nation lives in peace in safe buildings, free from earthquake anxiety, we will forget all political calculations. Let us see it this way. Let us do whatever is necessary together, hand in hand." 

WARNING FROM NACİ GÖRÜR

Earthquake scientist Naci Görür shared the earthquake plan call from the TMMOB Chamber of Geological Engineers on his social media account.

Here is that statement: 

THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AUGUST 17, 1999 EARTHQUAKE

WE NO LONGER WANT TO SAY WE WERE RIGHT!!

WORDS ARE OVER!!!

IT IS TIME FOR ACTION

Our country entered the 21st century by healing the wounds opened by the earthquakes that occurred on August 17 and November 12, 1999, known in the public eye as the Kocaeli and Düzce earthquakes. In the 25 years that have passed, we continue to fail with the earthquakes that have occurred all over Turkey, such as in Bingöl, Elazığ, Van, İzmir, and Kahramanmaraş. The TMMOB Chamber of Geological Engineers, the doyens of the Geological Engineering profession, and our professors have repeatedly issued warnings before all these mentioned earthquakes. They prepared reports. However, they were not taken into account. Unfortunately, this situation that has emerged has shown us not only a GEOLOGICAL fault in the country's geography, but also the faults that tear apart our economic, social, and political life.

As Geological Engineers;

We state once again that the reasons leading to destructive disaster damages are not independent of the socioeconomic conditions and political preferences in the country, and that ensuring disaster safety is an area of political determination, just like all other social phenomena; and in order to eliminate our national lack of disaster policy, which has become concrete in the findings we summarized above, we propose the urgent preparation of a strategic earthquake plan that will direct all resources at the social and administrative level to the goal of risk reduction, ensure coordination between individuals and institutions, set out short, medium, and long-term goals and principles in areas such as legislation, institutional structuring, education, health, etc., and define audit processes at every stage.

And we share the action plan that needs to be done point by point;

1- By creating earthquake-resistant settlement areas, we will ensure that all settlement areas in our country are built to be earthquake-resistant, as in the examples of California, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, China, and Indonesia. Micro-zoning studies of cities should be carried out/completed, and land use, zoning, settlement, and all physical development should be planned according to the data of this study.

2- The fault system that will produce the earthquake threatening our cities should be analyzed according to micro-zoning studies, Earthquake Hazard Maps should be updated, and Estimated Damage Analyses should be revealed.

3- In addition to Earthquake Hazard Maps, Landslide Sensitivity and Risk Maps, Avalanche Risk Maps, and Flood Maps should be produced and used as input in planning processes. Of course, all these analyses should be done before the earthquake occurs, and damage-reducing engineering works for the revealed dangers should be carried out urgently. In order to minimize possible damage and loss of life during an earthquake; scientific and detailed analyses should be carried out under the headings of Public, infrastructure, building stock, ecosystem/environment, and economy.

4- Administrative structuring should be prioritized for the correct execution and development of the following: conducting, checking, and auditing the geological-geotechnical surveys necessary for the correct execution of urban/rural infrastructure and superstructure services (roads, water, sewage, bridges, dams, etc.) and building design processes across the country, especially in our 24 cities located on fault lines and our 30 Metropolitan Municipalities, which make up approximately 75% of the country's population; urban water supply; researching and revealing groundwater resources and reserves; protecting groundwater basins; and ensuring the desired benefit from geothermal resources and natural mineral waters.

5- In accordance with the Building Inspection Law No. 4708, the functions of building inspection organizations within the inspection should be carried out with an on-site inspection process.

6- Considering that life and our vital activities are carried out in our geological environment, and by creating awareness of our geological environment, geology courses should be included in education programs starting from primary school to ensure that natural events are perceived correctly, and the phenomenon of disaster should be correctly integrated into every stage of the formal and non-formal education system.

17 AĞUSTOS 1999 DEPREMİNİN 25. YILI
ARTIK BİZ HAKLI ÇIKTIK DEMEK İSTEMİYORUZ!!
SÖZ BİTTİ!!!
SIRA EYLEMDE
Ülkemiz 21.yüzyıla 17 Ağustos ve 12 Kasım 1999 tarihlerinde gerçekleşen ve kamuoyunda Kocaeli ve Düzce depremleri olarak adlandırılan depremlerin açtığı yaraları sararak…

— Prof. Dr. Naci Görür (@nacigorur) August 16, 2024

News Source: 12punto