The Marmara Earthquake Emergency Reconstruction Project Residents can now sleep peacefully in earthquake - prone areas
 "I can sleep peacefully now," said Naci Altay, a 53-year-old survivor of Turkey's 1999 earthquake in Marmara. The earthquake devastated Naci's hometown of Adapazari, killed many of his friends and relatives, and took away his source of livelihood.
Now, after two years spent in tent cities and prefabricated huts enduring hot summers and cold winters, Naci finally feels secure. He remembers moving his family into a new house built by the government with support from the World Bank.
“The first night we were too tired to think about anything. But after several days I noticed that I was sleeping peacefully for the first time in a long while."
Massive loss of life and property in 1999
 The earthquake struck at 3:00 A.M on August 17, 1999. It measured 7.4 on the Richter scale and devasted the Marmara region in northwestern Turkey—the country’s most densely populated area and its industrial heartland.
Seven provinces suffered the most damage: the towns of Izmit and Gölcük in Kocaeli, the town of Adapazari in Sakarya, Yalova, Bolu, Istanbul, Bursa, and Eskisehir.
The disaster left 17,100 people dead and another 44,000 injured. Tens of thousands of buildings, both houses and businesses, collapsed or were badly damaged. The damage was estimated at a total of US$ 6 billion.
While major recovery and reconstruction was the need of the hour, it was clear that Turkey’s building codes needed to be effectively enforced. In addition, the country's emergency response system had to be upgraded, and a mechanism put in place to minimize the cost of such disasters in future.
Helping Turkey cope with the disaster and prevent such devastation in future
 The World Bank responded to the government’s request for urgent assistance. Within a week, a team of specialists was in the disaster area. The Marmara Earthquake Emergency Project helped with a daunting to-do list: restore the living conditions in disaster-stricken areas, support economic recovery so growth resumes, develop a framework to respond to disasters and reduce their risk - in part by establishing a disaster insurance scheme, improve zoning and enforce building codes, develop a land registration system, support a trauma program for adults, and construct new permanent houses.
To implement the project, the World Bank provided a loan of US$ 505 million, supplemented by allocations from other Bank projects in Turkey. A total of 12,008 housing units were constructed throughout the project area, 2,752 of which are in Adapazari. The tenants were able to move in on October 1, 2002. With new homes, schools, and health facilities to help them resume as normal lives as possible after losing everything - family members, neighbors, workplaces, and life savings, not to mention the social environment that kept everything together.
A new-found sense of security as residents piece their lives together
 Naci feels secure now. His family of four knows that the two-story apartment building that they moved into two years after the disaster, is built on solid ground and is strong enough to withstand any future quakes. He still misses his old home though, as the new house is located rather far from the town center around which the famiily's life revolved.
It is not easy for the family to deal with the new social fabric. And, after nearly half a decade, as they try to put their lives back together, the emotional wounds have not fully healed . “We are making an effort though," says Naci. “On summer nights, when my wife and I are sitting out on our small balcony facing the woods, I tell her to imagine that we are looking at the Bosphorus, and that the car headlights we see are actually the ships passing by…”
“As survivors we face psychological trauma, unemployment, and physical disabilities,” Naci sums up, “but life goes on…” Indeed life goes on, as Naci Altay alongwith thousands like him try to get back on their feet with reaffirmed dignity. |
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