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Turkey remembers 1999 earthquake victims
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
Associated Press
2009-08-17 06:52 PM

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_con ... g=eng_news

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Turks lit torches and laid wreathes in pre-dawn memorials Monday for victims of a devastating earthquake 10 years ago, and the government acknowledged it had not done enough to prepare if a massive temblor strikes Istanbul, Turkey's largest city.

Almost 18,000 people were killed when the magnitude 7.4 quake hit Izmit on Aug. 17, 1999, toppling or damaging thousands of poorly constructed buildings in northwest Turkey. About 1,000 people died in Istanbul, west of Izmit.

"We have to review what needs to be done," President Abdullah Gul said in an anniversary statement. "We have to learn from the experience, make sure our citizens are made conscious of the fact that Turkey is a country of earthquakes, and overcome our shortcomings."

The ceremonies began at 3:02 a.m., the time that the quake hit, in towns including Kocaeli, Golcuk, Yalova and Cinarcik. Events were also held at a naval command center and a car factory whose staff were among the victims, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Mourners observed a minute of silence and slid wreathes into the sea or laid them at monuments bearing the names of victims, many of whom died in their beds. Relatives listened to prayers and speeches while holding photographs of loved ones who perished.

In Golcuk, one man punched Mayor Mehmet Ellibes in the chest during his speech, shouting: "I lost my shop, how will you bring it back?"

Ellibes told reporters that he sympathized with the man, saying "the trauma continues even 10 years later."

Several hundred thousand people were left homeless, and some still live in housing that was supposed to be temporary. More rigorous building codes that were introduced after the quake have had a limited impact on densely packed Istanbul, which is vulnerable to seismic activity because it lies close to the North Anatolian fault line that runs into the sea.

"Firstly, we need to keep our buildings strong. We have serious problems there. In general, until now, there has been negligence where development and expansion is concerned," Anatolia quoted State Minister Mehmet Aydin as saying at a quake preparedness forum at Istanbul Technical University.

"If the necessary precautions are not taken, the money a country would need to spend after an earthquake would be far more than the money it needs to spend until the earthquake strikes," Aydin said.

Istanbul prepared an earthquake "master plan" after the quakes, assessing buildings' ability to withstand quakes and earmarking those that needed reinforcement or demolition. Still, preparations have lagged, partly because of lax regulation.

Turkey's new procurement and housing minister, Mustafa Demir, said his ministry was working on plans to introduce stricter construction regulations and oversight as well as punishment for government officials, engineers or constructors who do not adhere to rules.

In past years, experts have said there was a roughly two-thirds chance that a major quake would hit Istanbul within 30 years. Other estimates cite a 2 percent annual probability of a large temblor in the city, which has up to 15 million people, one fifth of Turkey's population.

Greece was among countries that sent help to Turkey after the Izmit quake, and Turkey reciprocated when Greece suffered a deadly quake in September of that year, contributing to a thaw in their historical enmity.

On Nov. 12, 1999, a magnitude 7.2 tremor in Turkey's Duzce town, east of Izmit, killed more than 700 people.

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Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser contributed to this report from Ankara.