Today marks the 25th anniversary of the catastrophic 7.4 magnitude earthquake that shook Turkey on August 17, 1999. recalls BTA.
The earthquake with its epicenter in the village of Golcuk (Kocaeli County), Northwestern Turkey, struck the largest area of the country – Marmara, which includes Istanbul, where almost a third of the country's population lives.
The Izmit earthquake, as this tremor is known, struck at 3:02 a.m. in the entire area around the Sea of Marmara, causing tens of thousands of casualties and causing heavy material damage.
According to official data, more than 17,000 people died, but according to unofficial sources, the dead are more than 65,000, more than 100,000 are injured, and about 600,000 are left homeless.
Situated on three fault lines and infamous for its substandard construction before 1998, Turkey has suffered a number of devastating earthquakes over the years. The most recent were the two catastrophic earthquakes in February this year. in Kahramanmaraş district, southern Turkey, with magnitudes of 7.8 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, which killed more than 53 thousand people in southern and southeastern Turkey.
Experts attribute the high death toll to poor construction until the 1990s, before regulations were changed and the amount of concrete and steel put into buildings was greatly increased.
Over the past years, the authorities in Turkey have taken many measures to limit the consequences of earthquakes – part of the housing stock, schools and hospitals were renovated, an early warning system was built, compulsory insurance of residential buildings against earthquakes was introduced.
However, experts warn that much remains to be done, and according to scientists, there is a danger that Istanbul, which is located on the border between the Anatolian and Eurasian tectonic plates, will be hit by another strong earthquake in the coming years.