Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness Project (ISMEP)
Kazım Gökhan ELGIN
Istanbul is most vulnerable city because of its seismic-prone location nearby the North Anatolian Fault and its high population and commercial/industrial densities. Taking into consideration that the probability of a major potential earthquake in next years will bring mass destruction in physical environment and economic sector with a high risk of life loss to Turkey, there is an urgent need to shift existing faith-oriented, reactive and recovery based policies into proactive, mitigative and preventive approaches.
Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation Project (ISMEP) is a significant attempt to implement essential principles of comprehensive disaster management financed by the World Bank, European Investment Bank, Council Of Europe Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank with a budget of 1.2 Billion Euro in total by the year of 2012. The main objectives are to improve the city of Istanbul’s preparedness for a potential earthquake through enhancing the institutional and technical capacity for disaster management and emergency response, strengthening critical public facilities for earthquake resistance and supporting measures for better enforcement of building codes and land use plans.
I. Introduction
Turkey is highly vulnerable to natural disasters particularly earthquakes, located at one of the active regions in the world in terms of seismicity and therefore felt significant interruptions on social, economic and financial life for many years. Within the nation’s high-risk context, Istanbul is most vulnerable because of its seismic-prone location on the North Anatolian Fault and its high population and commercial/industrial densities. The social, economic and environmental impacts of a potential earthquake would be higher than the 1999 Kocaeli Earthquake, as Istanbul is not only the financial, cultural and industrial centre of the country, but is also a nexus of inter-continental importance and home of about 15 million people.
In this framework, “Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness Project” (ISMEP) is an important step forward to improve the city of Istanbul’s preparedness for a potential earthquake and to reduce disaster-related impacts. Within this project, the main focus lies on the implementations of preventive and supporting measures on prepardeness, mitigation, response and recovery activities covering pre-disaster, on disaster and post-disaster periods.
The Government of Turkey (GoT) and International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) agreed upon a loan (no: 4784-TU) on September 18th, 2005 to implement and finance the “Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness Project” (ISMEP). The Project started on February 31, 2006 and is implemented by Istanbul Project Coordination Unit established under the Istanbul Special Provincial Administration.
