Real Risk

Post-disaster activities include a disaster response station for

each district project, with 250 ready-to-use containers loaded

with emergency equipment, located in several secure and easy to

reach points of Istanbul. In case of an emergency the equipment

inside will be used by professionals or trained citizens.

Further priorities include projects for micro-zoning, early

warning systems implementation, land use maps and planning

activities, training and preparedness, SAR equipment, the earth-

quake park project, and the Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation and

Emergency Planning project (ISMEP).

ISMEP

The ISMEP project is one of several ongoing projects aimed at

mitigating Istanbul’s risk of earthquake, all of which are tightly

linked under the control of central government and TEMAD. The

whole country is working on a better response in a systematic

approach framed by the United Nations and other international

organizations with the support of Turkish people and NGOs.

Within the next 10-20 years, the project aims to transform Istanbul

into a city more resilient to major earthquakes. Its overall goal is to

save lives and reduce the social, economic and financial impacts of

a major earthquake in the region. Specifically, the aim is to improve

Istanbul’s preparedness for a potential earthquake by enhancing its

institutional and technical capacity for disaster management and

emergency response, strengthening critical public facilities and

supporting measures for better enforcement of building codes and

land use plans. The Istanbul Special Provincial Administration will

be the responsible agency on behalf of the Republic of Turkey.

Andrew Vorkink, Country Director for Turkey, has noted that, in

a world where the 1999 Marmara earthquake, the 2004 tsunami,

Hurricane Katrina and the South Asian earthquake cost so much

in terms of lives and livelihoods, emergency preparedness and

hazard risk mitigation are essential government roles: “The good

news is that in Istanbul province, both the municipality and the

governorship, with the support of the central Government, have

demonstrated a high level of commitment and ownership in earth-

quake mitigation efforts, and have initiated several valuable seismic

risk assessment and planning activities,” he said.

“Through the ISMEP project more will be achieved. Key public

facilities will be retrofitted to resist a major earthquake; skills and

technical capacities of the relevant emergency response units will

be strengthened; and enforcement of building codes and land use

plans will be improved. The project will retrofit around 40 hospi-

tals and 600 schools, and several clinics, dormitories, and

administrative buildings. It will also demolish and rebuild any

building too weak to be retrofitted.”

The ISMEP project comprises three main components:

Component A: Enhancing emergency preparedness

. The objective of

this component is to enhance the effectiveness and capacity of

Istanbul’s provincial and municipal public safety organizations to

prepare for, respond to and recover from significant emergencies,

[

] 122

Earthquake probability in Istanbul in the near future

Earthquake with a magnitude of more than seven

2000-2010

32%

+/- 12

2010-2022

50%

+/- 13

2022-2030

62%

+/- 15

Source: T. Persons (USA), A. Barka (Turkey), S. Toda (Japan)

Total number

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

1000

2000

3000

No. Blocks

Retrofitting

required

Retrofitting

Ready

Ongoing project

Finished

Need Rebuild

Schools

Hospitals

Public Service Buildings

Dormitories

especially those arising from earthquakes. The component will

support improvement of emergency communications systems;

establishment of an emergency management information system;

strengthening the institutional capacity of the Istanbul

Governorship Disaster Management Centre (AYM); upgrading of

emergency response capacity, and public awareness and training.

Component B: Seismic risk mitigation for public facilities

. To reduce

the risk of future earthquake damage to critical facilities and life-

lines in order to save lives in the event of an earthquake. Key

activities include the retrofitting or reconstruction of priority public

facilities such as hospitals, clinics, schools, administrative build-

ings and infrastructure; risk assessment of lifelines and vital

infrastructure; and risk assessment of cultural heritage buildings.

Component C: Enforcement of building codes

. This component

will support innovative approaches to better enforcing building

codes and compliance with land use plans. Key areas of support

are public awareness campaigns; further development of a regu-

latory framework for enforcement of building codes and land use

plans; volunteer accreditation/training of engineers; streamlining

of building permits issuance procedures, and promoting trans-

parency and accountability in selected district municipalities.

Istanbul’s 15 million inhabitants will benefit from mitigated risk

of an earthquake and the preparation of the city and its population

for a potential disaster. The city’s decreased vulnerability will benefit

the country in economic, financial and social terms, since major

losses to the metropolis would dramatically affect Turkey as a whole.

Natural or man-made disasters have similar results when it

comes to effects on our daily lives. When a disaster hits an impor-

tant facility, a chain reaction starts and other metropolitan systems

collapse. But if a multi-dimensional and multi-sectored approach

is taken to preparation activities, the result is a chain of response

that eventually becomes a sustainable development.

Turkey has learned expensive lessons from the 1999 earth-

quakes. Disasters are not confined by national or regional borders,

and countries cannot cope alone. The world is increasingly inter-

dependent, and a spirit of partnership is needed to save human

lives and protect property.

Istanbul retrofitting

Source: Istanbul Governership Emergency Crises Management Center