One of the activities carried out under the subject of "Unifying Cultural Forces for the Earthquake-effected Region" after the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes shook our country, was in-house trainings. With that, Assoc. Dr. Evren Burak Enginöz, gave a seminar titled "How Should We Prepare for Earthquakes and the Aftermath?" on February 20, 2023.
Assoc. Dr. Evren Burak Enginöz in his speech said;
"After the two 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes in just 9 hour intervals on February 6, 2023, which affected 11 provinces in total, and whose epicentres were Pazarcık and Ekinözü districts of Kahramanmaraş, respectively, shook the country, so did it shake our trust in the safety of our buildings throughout the country.
The times as such we are going through when search and rescue efforts and meeting the temporary shelter needs such as tents and containers are becoming of vital importance, we should all explore ways to have cities that are resistant to possible new disasters across the country.
As a result of the earthquakes encountered today, we have seen that it is not enough just to have an earthquake resistant structure, that it is also of vital importance to have the entire city we live in to be earthquake resistant. With that, we need to understand that pre-disaster preparation stages are much more important than post-disaster interventions and the swiftness of reacting. Certainly, had structures not been damaged and destroyed to this horrible extent , the search and rescue process would have been easier and we would not have lost this many lives. Unfortunately, rebuilding the cities that are not resistant to disasters and returning them to their old normality is both costly and is very time-consuming.
Henceforth, as a country, we should prioritise preliminary preparations and endeavours that will make our cities resistant to disasters. So what can we do as individuals in this process? We should get the buildings we live in tested to see if they are compatible with the earthquake resistance requirements, rebuild them if necessary, or install reinforcements against earthquake loads. We should securely fix the furniture in our homes and offices, and furnish our rooms in a way that does not block the doors and escape routes.
Although we do not know when the next earthquake will hit, we (all Istanbulites) need to aid these preparations, keeping in mind that it can happen at any time, without wasting any time and without waiting for others. I hope we have time to make Istanbul resistant to future earthquakes,".
