Turkey, a country which is located in South-West Asia, and
also in South-East Europe (European Map-wise), is a country that is very prone
to Natural Disasters and Calamities since, Earthquake-wise, it is located in
the Northern Anatolian Fault, one of the strongest known fault-lines in the
world, that certain fault-line is in the same family of fault-lines as the San
Andrea's Fault, since they are entirely similar in almost all ways. Tsunami's
after Earthquakes is naturally inevitable in the country since the northern
region of the country has the Black Sea directly infront of them, and this body
of water is very large too, making them prone to tsunami's. But thankfully,
Turkey has the Turkey National Disaster Response, which is the national
disaster response agency of Turkey, that certain agency is very responsive,
technically satisfactory to the citizens all-over Turkey. They also have
disaster risk management (DRM), which is also a national disaster response
agency of Turkey.
REACTIONS
The 1999 İzmit earthquake (also known as the Kocaeli,
Gölcük, or Marmara earthquake) occurred on 17 August at 03:01:40 local time in
northwestern Turkey. The shock had a moment magnitude of 7.6 and a maximum
Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). The event lasted for 37 seconds, killing
around 17,000 people and left approximately half a million people homeless. The
nearby city of İzmit was severely damaged. To be honest, just looking at the
photos taken by the photographers that time left me in superior awe. The
scenery looked entirely devastating, houses looked like crumpled paper,
buildings surely went down. It could have probably been the scariest time of my
life if I was there. It’s just so intense and insane that catastrophe.
Me and my Group were surely never aware that Turkey can be
as Earthquake-prone as the majority of the countries in South-East Asia.
Learning all this gave us Awe and the solid Fascination.
COMPARISONS
the 1999 Izmit earthquake is considerably more intense than
the one that happened in the Philippines in 1994, The 1994 Mindoro Earthquake.
The 1994 Mindoro Earthquake had considerably lesser deaths since the citizens
in that area and in the Philippines are a lot more aware and prepared for such
happenings if ever it would happen (in which it did). The Izmit Earthquake had
like probably 29 times more deaths since the structures of their homes and
buildings weren’t that strong and the people there were definitely not prepared
for that, which cost a lot of lives. The 1994 Mindoro Earthquake only had 78
deaths and only damaged 7,566 while the 1999 Izmit Earthquake had a whopping
17,000 deaths and left half a million people homeless in Turkey, and now that’s
a large comparison. Philippines and Turkey are prone to natural
disasters. They are both prone because of their geographical location, Turkey
sits between two huge tectonic plates, Eurasia and Africa / Arabia, which are
inexorably grinding into one another, north to south while Philippines lies
along the Pacific Ring of Fire, which causes the country to have frequent
seismic and volcanic activity. Both of the said countries are doing their best
to spread the awareness for these natural calamities. The difference is that
Philippines takes a lot of time to recover from the or a calamity, unlike on
the other hand, Turkey, in a short period of time, they can recover or can
solve their problems which natural calamities are involved immediately. Well
maybe the machines or the technology that the Turkish are using are more or has
an advanced technology than the Philippines.
CONCLUSIONS
I conclude that the country Turkey has a fault line which is
similar to the California’s fault line. Their government are doing their best
to make sure that their citizens are safe and prepared for the next. Because of
its geographical location, it is the cause on why Turkey is prone to
earthquakes. The project ISMEP was created because of government eagerness to
create an awareness towards to the Turkish people. There’s a possibility that
any time an earthquake will hit the country. Turkey is just a lot like the
countries of Indonesia, Japan, and Philippines when it comes to Earthquakes and
Natural Hazards and Disasters, the country is very prone to this, since it is
located in a very active fault-line.Turkey
is just a lot like the countries of Indonesia, Japan, and Philippines when it
comes to Earthquakes and Natural Hazards and Disasters, the country is very
prone to this, since it is located in a very active fault-line.
