Victims of the İzmir earthquake commemorated

The program, organized by the İzmir Governorship at the İzmir Economy Congress Center, began at 14:51, the time the earthquake struck, with the recitation of the Quran and prayers.

In his speech there, Governor Süleyman Elban stated that AFAD has carried out very important work in disasters in coordination with other relevant institutions.

Stating that the city's building stock is in very poor condition, Elban said, "God forbid, it is certain that an earthquake of magnitude 6 or higher will lead to serious destructive consequences in our province. We are not saying this to scare people or to be alarmist; we are stating a scientific fact. We say that one of the most fundamental solutions to this is urban transformation."

Elban expressed that there is a need for an urban transformation in mindsets before urban transformation in cities, and stated the following:

"Because we still forget the importance of this issue, what kind of problems it will cause, and what we will face shortly after experiencing a disaster. I am very sure that shortly after the earthquake, people talked everywhere about how they would carry out urban transformation, strengthen buildings, and move new residential areas to solid ground.

But at the point we have reached, we see with sadness that, apart from the work done by AFAD and volunteer organizations over the past 4 years, there has unfortunately been no progress regarding the building stock, new residential areas, and other issues. Therefore, it is very clear that we cannot physically carry out urban transformation in cities without changing this mindset and carrying out urban transformation in our minds."

Elban added that the state and relevant institutions have accomplished very important work in a short time in terms of healing the wounds.

AK Party İzmir Deputy Ceyda Bölünmez Çankırı, AFAD General Director of Earthquake and Risk Reduction Prof. Dr. Orhan Tatar, and AFAD Provincial Director Nazif Ekinci also delivered speeches.

In the program where AFAD volunteers were presented with their IDs, photographs taken during the earthquake period were exhibited, and the Provincial Disaster and Emergency Directorate's 5-person motorized reconnaissance team and a newly commissioned 7.5-ton forklift were introduced.

A commemoration ceremony was also held by the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality at the October 30 Earthquake Monument in Bayraklı district.

At the ceremony, which began with the recitation of the Quran, fire trucks sounded their sirens at 14:51, the time the earthquake occurred, a moment of silence was held in memory of those who lost their lives, and carnations were left at the Earthquake Monument.

It was observed that the relatives of the citizens who lost their lives in the earthquake could not hold back their tears.

İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Cemil Tugay said in his speech there that many of the buildings destroyed in the earthquake were built according to standards prior to 1999.

Stating that they want to prevent people from living under risk, Tugay said, "Since we took office, we have been following a path where we know what to do. We are doing our best. We have to do something, especially to ensure that risky structures, those that could collapse in an earthquake between 6.5 and 7 magnitude, are rebuilt as soon as possible, or strengthened if that is not possible."