How town at the epicentre of Turkey’s 1999 earthquake was rebuilt

As Turkey reels from final month’s devastating earthquakes, the reconstruction of Golcuk may provide glimpse into what must be carried out now.

In August 1999, the small city of Golcuk was the epicentre of a magnitude-7.4 earthquake that rocked Kocaeli province and the broader Marmara area. 1000's of buildings crumbled like sandcastles, killing greater than 17,000 folks [File: US Navy/Getty Images]

Golcuk, Turkey – Life is breezy on this nook of northwestern Turkey, easy and unhurried. Households reside principally in low-rise houses and stroll in massive inexperienced areas overlooking the waters of the Marmara Sea. Roads are trendy and the general public infrastructure is brand-new.

Nevertheless it was not at all times like this. In August 1999, the small city of Golcuk was the epicentre of a magnitude-7.4 earthquake that rocked Kocaeli province and the broader Marmara space. 1000's of buildings crumbled like sandcastles and greater than 17,000 folks died throughout the area.

The devastation, nonetheless, was adopted by a scientific reconstruction course of that has since reworked Golcuk into “the Paris of Kocaeli” – as some residents name it, with a contact of pleasure – and a perceived secure haven in a rustic that's frequently blighted by earthquake disasters.

The latest was a month in the past, when two highly effective tremors killed practically 50,000 folks and wrecked tens of hundreds of buildings throughout southern Turkey.

Because the nation seeks to course of the newest tragedy, many consider that the rebuilding of Golcuk may provide a glimpse of what profitable reconstruction within the affected southern cities could appear like.

“We really feel very safe dwelling right here,” mentioned Baki Kotan, a Golcuk resident and survivor of the 1999 quake. “It was re-built so a lot better that it attracted new folks and traders.”

A household camps in entrance of a wrecked home on one of many major avenues of Izmit following the quake [File: Pierre Verdy/AFP]

The reconstruction

Lower than an hour’s drive away from Istanbul, Kocaeli is Turkey’s industrial heartland. From the Nineteen Sixties and onwards, it was a major vacation spot for folks migrating from the agricultural east in the direction of the extra developed west. This created an enormous demand for reasonable housing. By 1999, the area accounted for a 3rd of the county’s financial development and 45 % of its industrial capability.

However then, at 3:01am on August 17 of that yr, the earth started shaking.

The jolt lasted for lower than a minute however the disaster was such that it took about three months to clear the rubble, recalled Ismail Baris, the then-mayor of Golcuk. A complete of 15,000 buildings have been destroyed within the city.

However as survivors grappled with the aftermath of the catastrophe, a post-quake restoration plan was swiftly set in movement. Inspectors started conducting soil testing, a observe that was not extensively used earlier than, to assist them resolve learn how to break up the realm into zones for residences and financial actions.

The end result was a radical re-configuration of the city. Earlier than the quake, building was closely concentrated nearer to the ocean, the place revenue was greater, however the soil was largely inappropriate as a consequence of its softness. “We needed to transfer everyone from the north to the south,” Baris mentioned, remembering it as a serious problem, together with the excavation on more durable floor within the southern facet.

The brand new constructions have been constructed underneath strict guidelines stipulating most heights of three.5 flooring and using stronger cement and thicker metal. The smaller dimension of the buildings meant that extra of them have been mandatory to offer a roof to all these in want. This led to the identification of areas additional afield that might accommodate the development of latest buildings. At present, these small everlasting homes are principally unfold throughout the area, together with on the mountains surrounding Izmit metropolis, Kocaeli’s regional capital.

The housing building rights have been awarded by way of a world bidding course of wherein opponents needed to meet particular requirements, corresponding to utilizing a particular design that will make homes proof against a magnitude-8 earthquake. In different instances, particularly within the rural areas the place residents needed to re-build their very own homes, the Turkish authorities supplied a three-phased finance programme.

Medics present remedy to injured folks within the courtyard of an Izmit hospital on August 18, 1999 [File: Pierre Verdy/AFP]

Nonetheless, these stranded in shelters all through the method wanted money. Ajay Chhibber, who was Turkey’s director of the World Financial institution when the quake hit in 1999, recalled noticing how households started splitting as males moved to Istanbul searching for jobs, whereas others began promoting blankets and garments that they'd acquired as help. “Even for those who give them a tent and meals, they nonetheless want money to outlive for an extended time frame with out revenue,” mentioned Chhibber, whose crew arrange a six-month money help programme to get the native economic system flowing.

The World Financial institution raised between $3bn and $4bn, mentioned Chhibber, and helped create an earthquake insurance coverage system to assist encourage secure building practices and scale back prices. To ease corruption considerations amongst donors, which included the Islamic Growth Financial institution and the European Funding Financial institution, the World Financial institution pushed for the appointment of a state minister contained in the prime minister’s workplace who grew to become the establishment’s major counterpart.

“By the tip of 2004 the reconstruction was virtually over,” Baris mentioned. Some 8,200 buildings have been constructed throughout that part, with extra within the years that adopted. Because of this, Golcuk’s pre-quake inhabitants of about 110,000 has since virtually doubled.

At present, the federal government is keen to push forward with reconstruction efforts within the 10 provinces hit by the February earthquakes. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to rebuild these areas inside 12 months, however some are cautioning in opposition to a rush.

“It took us 2.5 years to complete and it was thought of the quickest rebuilding course of on this planet,” Chhibber mentioned of the trouble after the 1999 tremor. “To attempt to do the identical in a single yr you'll have to minimize loads of corners,” he warned.

“They need to do that extra rigorously as individuals who have been affected are so shaken up they don’t need to return to unsafe buildings,” Chhibber mentioned.

An imposing, practically two-metre-tall engineer, Keramettin Gencturk noticed his recognition rise after not one of the buildings he had constructed within the space collapsed within the 1999 earthquake [Virginia Pietromarchi/Al Jazeera]

‘1999 taught us solely on paper’

Golcuk is situated some 1,000km (621 miles) away from Kahranmanmaras, the epicentre of final month’s magnitude-7.8 earthquake. However as quickly as information of the far-away catastrophe unfold within the city, the trauma of 1999 resurfaced once more.

Kotan, the resident, mentioned he has not watched tv since February 6 to keep away from reliving the ordeal. Others, like retired trainer Kemal Ekin, have mentioned they've hardly gotten any sleep, stricken by a returning sense of unease over the lack to assist folks trapped within the particles. His spouse, Sahsine Ekin, described a sense of suffocation. “I really feel as if I'm [stuck] underneath rubble.”

The current catastrophe has evoked comparable emotions throughout the northwestern area, together with in locations the place the destruction was not as dangerous as in Golcuk. In cities like Izmit, most broken buildings have been by no means renovated in accordance to the constructing codes, consultants mentioned. Therefore, some are actually speeding to hunt steering amongst trusted consultants on learn how to examine, strengthen and even rebuild their homes.

“Why do folks name me?” requested Keramettin Gencturk, in-between answering telephone calls and receiving folks lining up inside his Izmit workplace. An imposing, practically two-metre-tall engineer, Gencturk noticed his recognition rise after not one of the buildings he had constructed within the space collapsed within the 1999 earthquake.

“I don’t do an excessive amount of. I simply observe the principles!” he exclaimed, waving energetically the final version of the 2018 earthquake constructing code.

Following the 1999 tremor, lawmakers launched stronger constructing necessities, together with necessary constructing inspections and using higher building supplies, corresponding to metal and concrete.

However the comparability of putting comparable accounts from the 1999 and 2023 earthquake disasters means that whereas the principles grew to become stricter, their enforcement was not at all times constant.

This aerial photograph taken on February 20, 2023 reveals diggers eradicating the rubble of collapsed buildings in Antakya, southern Turkey [Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP]

Stories from the 1999 quake communicate of cement particles full of a lot sand that it may have crumbled by the contact of a hand. Different accounts describe metal rods inside columns too skinny to adjust to constructing code necessities.

Specialists in current weeks have additionally denounced using inferior building supplies, saying the poorly enforced laws allowed folks to take shortcuts. It was solely in 2019 that the federal government appointed inspectors to verify the development course of – earlier than that, builders may make use of the businesses that have been tasked with checking their constructions, a observe that insiders say allowed offers behind closed doorways. A number of authorities amnesties, in the meantime, legalised hundreds of buildings, clearing constructing code violators so long as they paid a tremendous.

“1999 taught us one thing, however [only] on paper,” Gencturk mentioned.

Turkish authorities have, in the course of the previous month, launched an investigation in opposition to greater than 600 folks over the buildings that collapsed within the February 6 quakes, with 184 suspects jailed pending trial.

The World Financial institution has calculated that Turkey faces direct damages from the current earthquakes value $34.2bn – 4 % of its gross home product in 2021. It is a conservative estimate because it doesn't embrace oblique or secondary impacts of the quake on the nation’s economic system, with the financial institution warning that reconstruction prices can be probably twice as massive.

Alper Dulger, head of the Izmit Chamber of Architects, mentioned that quick and secure reconstruction was attainable. The nation has the manpower, the know-how and new building applied sciences to construct safer in contrast with the Nineteen Nineties, he added.

“We are able to handle this if we discover the cash,” Dulger mentioned.

However the actual problem, he warned, was the return of outdated habits: “So long as folks proceed to count on that they will get away with amnesties, the loop will proceed.”

Alper Dulger, head of the Izmit Chamber of Architects, mentioned that quick and secure reconstruction was attainable. The nation has the manpower, the know-how and new building applied sciences to construct safer in contrast with the Nineteen Nineties, he added [Virginia Pietromarchi/Al Jazeera]