Turkey remains unprepared for major disasters

Significance

The 7.4-magnitude earthquake with an epicentre near Istanbul killed at least 17,000 people and destroyed or severely damaged 66,000 buildings. It compounded fears of a major earthquake in Istanbul itself, a city with 1.2 million buildings and 15.7 million inhabitants. Turkey is also vulnerable to large wildfires, whose frequency is increasing as a result of climate change.

Impacts

• Frequent disasters may affect Turkey’s image abroad and discourage investment and tourism.
• Those able to migrate away from disaster-prone areas will do so, accentuating the link between disaster risk and low socio-economic status.
• The opposition will continue to exploit the country’s poor disaster management record but with limited success.