site.btaTurkiye Marks 26th Anniversary of Devastating Marmara Earthquake That Left Over 17,000 Dead

At dawn on Sunday, commemorative ceremonies were held in the Turkish cities of Kocaeli, Yalova, Golcuk, and Istanbul to mark the 26th anniversary of a devastating 1999 earthquake that struck the Marmara region, home to nearly 30 million people, reported the Turkish outlet TRT Haber.

Many of the physical traces left by the 7.4-magnitude earthquake, which struck on August 17, 1999, epicentered in Golcuk, have been erased. However, the pain and trauma from the disaster, officially reported to have killed 17,480 people and injured 43,953, still remain in the hearts of millions, even 26 years later.

Hundreds of citizens took part in the commemorative events held in the cities of Kocaeli, Sakarya, Golcuk, and Yalova, the hardest-hit areas during the quake. At the time, experts described the event as the "disaster of the century." Ceremonies were held at memorial sites dedicated to the victims in these cities.

Representatives of local authorities, members of parliament, and civil society organizations attended the ceremonies. Prayers were offered for the souls of the victims, poems were recited, and speeches emphasized the solidarity shown in the face of the natural disaster.

At exactly 3.02 am at dawn, the time when the earthquake struck the region 26 years ago, carnations were thrown into the sea near Golcuk, the epicenter of the disaster, where thousands of naval personnel also lost their lives due to the proximity of the naval base, which was later relocated. The memorial sites dedicated to those who died in the earthquake were covered in flowers.

Commemorative ceremonies were also held in Avcılar, the district most severely affected in Istanbul, where 270 people lost their lives and hundreds were injured. More than 3,000 homes and nearly 500 businesses were destroyed.

According to a 2010 report by a parliamentary investigative commission, established to assess earthquake risks and recommend preventive measures, “the earthquake left approximately 200,000 people homeless and affected the lives and future of nearly 16 million people to some extent.” In Istanbul alone, 454 people died, 1,800 were injured, and nearly 41,000 residential buildings and more than 3,000 school buildings were damaged.

In a statement, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority stressed that Turkiye frequently faces natural disasters due to its tectonic, seismic, topographic, and climatic conditions.

URBAN TRANSFORMATION PROJECT OVERCOMES DAMAGES

The Turkish government, in cooperation with the Housing Development Administration of Turkiye and other institutions, has been implementing the Urban Transformation Project for several years. Its goal is to replace old, non-standard buildings with new, earthquake-resistant constructions. According to experts, this project has significantly helped to overcome the damage caused by the 1999 earthquake in recent years.

Meanwhile, according to disaster management specialist Bulent Ozmen, a lecturer at Gazi University, a total of 448,000 earthquakes were recorded in Turkiye over the 26 years since the August 1999 earthquake. On average, Turkiye experiences an earthquake of over 7-magnitude on the Richter scale every 6.5 years.