Sunday, December 2, 2007

Earthquake in Izmit, Turkey 1999


Introduction

Natural Hazards are natural events that are unexpected and uncontrollable, while natural disasters are natural hazards that cause massive destruction and cause injury or maybe deaths. (http://www.naturalhazards.org/discover/index.html) These dangerous events can’t be prevented; however they could be predicted by -- science technology (scientific instruments) which will alert us when the disaster will occur. Although the instruments are not 100 percent accurate; but this help us people to evacuate to a safer place, and prevent the numerous casualties. However these instruments are so expensive that some LEDC (the least economically developed countries) could not afford them. Turkey was one of the countries which had faced this problem. In the year of 1999, Izmit, Turkey had faced a severe earthquake. This blog will explain every detail about the disaster which occurred.


How did this earthquake occur?

One of the most massive destruction phenomena of nature is an earthquake. Some earthquakes are less destructive and cause least damages, but the rest are very severe and violent. These earthquakes occur because of plate movements. Which include – constructive margin, destructive margin, collision margin, and conservative margin. These types of plate movement occurs when two or more plate boundaries move (move past, move toward, move away, or overlapping) and contact each other; causing seismic waves to be release and cause violent vibration. The location where the plate boundaries, or fault, move and contact each other is called the focus. And the location above the focus is called the epicenter. (http://www.fema.gov/hazard/earthquake/why.shtm)






In the case of the earthquake which occurred in Izmit was a similar explanation. Turkey lies on North Anatolian fault; which is in between 2 big plate boundaries, which includes: Eurasia and Africa (with Arabia) plates. How the earthquake occurred was by: Anatolian fault is being push to the west, while it is being squeezed in between the Eurasia plate in the north and -- the Africa and Arabia in the south. (http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/1999_Izmit%2C_Turkey_Earthquake) Most of the earthquake occur along the North Anatolian fault which is been push by the Eurasia; resulting collision margin. Which this earthquake was 7.4-7.8 measured on the Richter scale!!



(http://www.ipgp.jussieu.fr/~lacassin/WebTecto/rech/tectorecherche/IzmitWEB/Quakes1781999UK.gif)


Consequences + Affects

This severe earthquake had caused a huge loss to Turkey. 17,480 people died, 23,983 were injured, 600,031 became homeless, and 200,010 needed to live on the streets. (http://www.answers.com/topic/1999-izmit-earthquake) This number of casualties is very high, because this event had occurred in industrialized and populated urban areas. And this total number of loss didn’t stop; the death toll had increased during winter because of shortage of food and condition of cold weather.

'Rescuers pull a survivor from the rubble of the Izmit earthquake' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/428054.stm)

Approximate Number of constructions destroyed:
Houses damaged beyond it could repair – 120,000
Houses heavily damaged (still can repair) – 50,000
Buildings – 2000 collapsed
Buildings – 4000 heavily damaged
(http://www.answers.com/topic/1999-izmit-earthquake)

(http://www.drgeorgepc.com/Tsunami1999Turkey.html)


Industrial and buildings crush down every where, due a few factors:
The quality of concrete use in constructing buildings are poor, resulting the construction can not stand the vibration and the tension force beneath the ground.
The base of the buildings (first floor) were not well-supported – had many gaps and spaces. And most of the buildings lack the main poles to support the weight of the buildings.
Structural Alteration – floors were being constructed (added) to increase the capacity of the building; causing when the earthquake occur, the building needed to hold on to its mass and also resist the vibration from the ground. When the building reached its limitation, it collapses.
Improper construction sites – the location of the construction is unsuitable, too much risk to construct near the plate border lines.
(http://www.eas.slu.edu/Earthquake_Center/TURKEY/)




Turkey’s economy went down turn due to the industrialize areas were been destroyed, which includes the oil refineries (also caused air pollution from the fire which occurred), and a few power plants; and market places. (http://www.answers.com/topic/1999-izmit-earthquake) And in addition, farmers which lived by the coast of Turkey had to face the flooding impact – due to the aftershock tidal waves. This caused the crop to be damaged.


Aiding

Many countries pledge aid to help Turkey, which includes: Greece, UK, The USA, Germany, France and Japan. They supported Turkey with first aid kits, medical supplements, shelters and clothing (tents, blankets, etc.), food and money for reparations.

Water distribution by the Canadian army (http://www.bagwater.com/images/portable-water-packaging8.jpg)

Additional Factors

People still live in Izmit and those areas because there are no more places for the people to live in, and these areas are once industrialize and places which is urban. Business foreigners come and work in these particular places and it is the gather spot where people from rural areas would come and find their jobs. Izmit is also located close to the sea, which is access to sea ports. Lastly, many countries fill-fully to pledge aid helping Turkey, so the condition isn’t that worst.


Countries like Turkey, which was consider a LEDC, had a great deal with natural disasters like this; they had no preparation for evacuations and never expected that it would be this severe. The casualties would not be this high if the government had more funds to repair the buildings and build up temporary shelters for the homeless people; then the people wouldn’t face the harsh winter conditions (shortage of food, etc.) If this situation would happen in MEDC, the time of repairment would decrease and people wouldn’t suffer much from being homeless. For example, the earthquake in Kobe, Japan 1995; after the earthquake occurred within a month, everything came back with fully operational. And in additional, the buildings were improved stronger to face more severe conditions.


After this event had occurred, many policies were being made and the natural disaster associations had hand in the help to the people suffering from the harsh conditions. Many programs were made to help the people that suffer from the shortage of food.

Possible Prevention method – The Turkish government should give more importance to alert the people to evacuate out from the dangerous area. Also people must be full preparation to face this kind of situation (for example practicing the evacuation). The government should pay more funds in improving buildings and constructions for more resist to the earthquakes and other natural disaster.

Number of earthquake each day(http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/pb2/pb21/Task_Force/izmit/izmit_text.html)

Conclusion

In conclusion, LEDC should be more prepare to face these natural disasters so that there won’t be too mush lost. They should give more importance to this topic, so no more tears would need to waste. And earthquakes can occur anywhere any time, so we should be aware!

Work Cited -- special thanks to these websites:

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