The “I Am Ready for Earthquake” Symposium was held by the Scenario-Based Occupational Health and Safety Club, which operates within the Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Faculty of Health Sciences, and the Department of Health, Culture and Sports (HCS) at Üsküdar University. Within the scope of the project implemented with the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports ÜNİDES program, it was aimed to share earthquake awareness with young people through scientific data and applied scenarios. During the symposium, the importance of individual and societal preparedness against disasters was emphasized; many critical topics, from urbanization policies to early warning systems, disaster communication to smart technologies, were addressed by expert names. In the continuation of the program, participants attended the earthquake simulation held at the AFAD Yeşilköy Directorate.
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The biggest risk against earthquakes: Dense and high-rise construction!
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The event, held in the Emirnebi-1 Conference Hall at Çarşı Campus, was attended by academics, students, and industrialists, including Prof. Arif Aktuğ Ertekin, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Üsküdar University; Asst. Prof. Rüştü Uçan, Head of the Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Faculty of Health Sciences; Özgür Özaltun, AFAD Provincial Communication Officer; Prof. Şerif Barış from the Geophysics Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering at Kocaeli University; Ali Emre Erişen, CEO of EDIS Disaster and Earthquake Systems; and Seçkin İlbars, R&D Manager at Multitek Elektronik.
Posters explaining what to do during and after an earthquake were displayed in the conference hall.
Prof. Arif Aktuğ Ertekin: “We must learn to live with the reality of earthquakes”
Prof. Arif Aktuğ Ertekin, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Üsküdar University, delivered the opening speech of the event. He drew attention to the fact that Türkiye is historically an earthquake country and stated that social awareness needs to be increased. Prof. Ertekin began his words by saying, “We have always experienced earthquakes since 115 AD. Our country is in an earthquake zone. We must learn to live with this reality. I wish there could have been more friends and participants in a meeting held to express this awareness in such a country.”
“Preventable losses are the most painful”
Prof. Arif Aktuğ Ertekin reminded the major earthquakes from the past to the present and pointed out that casualties are largely preventable. Ertekin emphasized that the earthquake's effects are not only physical but also socially and economically devastating; “Looking back since the 1900s, we experienced 33,000 casualties in the Erzincan earthquake, 18,000 in the Gölcük earthquake, and 46,000 in 2023. Yet, technology has advanced, and there are early warning systems. Despite this, these losses are thought-provoking. An earthquake doesn't just destroy and pass in that moment; the economy is lost, families are lost, life is lost. The most saddening part is that these are largely preventable. Preventable losses are the most painful.” he said.
Asst. Prof. Rüştü Uçan: “Dense construction is a huge problem for earthquakes”
Speaking at the symposium, Asst. Prof. Rüştü Uçan, Head of the Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Faculty of Health Sciences at Üsküdar University, and President of MESKA Foundation, compared construction in Europe with Türkiye, drawing attention to the risks of dense and high-rise construction. Uçan emphasized that mistakes made in urban planning could lead to serious consequences during a disaster.
Asst. Prof. Rüştü Uçan said; “In many European countries we visited, we saw buildings that were 5-6, at most 7 stories high. There are two or three large buildings, and all the rest are low-rise buildings, with space between those two or three high-rise buildings. In other words, I have not seen a building block like the high-rise giant building castle built in Fikirtepe anywhere else. We see that if any one of these building blocks collapses during an earthquake, that road will be blocked. There is already one entrance and one exit road on the main artery. Neither fire trucks nor any other vehicle will be able to enter there. Such high-rise and almost contiguous dense construction will create a huge problem for earthquakes.”
“We need to prepare for the earthquake”
Uçan stated that the understanding of urbanization in Türkiye needs to be re-evaluated, particularly emphasizing that high-rise construction poses a risk. Uçan, remarking that unplanned growth is noticeable even in Anatolian cities; “First, we need to prepare for the earthquake. High-rise buildings planned in Türkiye must be abandoned urgently. We see a 40-story building on the coastline. What is the need for it to be 40 stories high? High-rise buildings, contiguous and glass buildings… An uncertain construction trend continues rapidly.” he said.
High-rise buildings pose a significant risk!
Uçan, in his evaluations regarding Türkiye’s building inspection system, stated that enough lessons have not been learned from past earthquakes. Emphasizing that sound buildings and proper inspection are vitally important, Asst. Prof. Rüştü Uçan said: “There is no functioning inspection system in Türkiye. We must accept this. 27 years have passed since the '99 earthquake, and 3 years since the 2023 earthquake, but we continue to build high-rise structures at full speed. We also saw in Antakya that 12-13 story buildings were completely destroyed. These were also supposedly resistant to a magnitude 9 earthquake on paper… Under these circumstances, high-rise buildings appear to be a major problem.”
Earthquake addressed from different perspectives
Following the opening speeches, the symposium continued with sessions attended by experts in their fields.
Participants had the opportunity to gain important theoretical and practical information through presentations that addressed the reality of earthquakes from different dimensions.
Within the scope of the sessions:
- Prof. Şerif Barış from the Geophysics Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering at Kocaeli University, drew attention to the importance of creating awareness in society in his presentation titled “Earthquake Awareness,”
-AFAD Provincial Communication Officer Özgür Özaltun discussed the topic of “Disaster Communication,” emphasizing the vital role of communication during crises.
-EDIS CEO Ali Emre Erişen provided information on “Early Warning Technologies,”
-And Multitek R&D Manager Seçkin İlbars shared innovative solutions developed against disasters under the title “Smart Systems” with the participants.
A knowledge contest was also held within the symposium
Subsequently, an earthquake-themed knowledge contest was organized to reinforce the participants' information.
While the award was presented to the winning participant in the highly popular contest, the event was conducted in both an educational and interactive manner.
Theoretical knowledge reinforced with practical application through earthquake simulation
In the continuation of the program, Occupational Health and Safety students, under the coordination of Asst. Prof. Rüştü Uçan and Res. Asst. Ender Sezen, participated in the earthquake simulation held at the AFAD Yeşilköy Directorate.
During the simulation, conducted with realistic scenarios, situations that could be experienced during an earthquake were directly encountered, and correct behavior patterns were conveyed through practical application.
Additionally, a comprehensive awareness training was provided on what needs to be done during and after a disaster. The training focused on vital topics such as safe evacuation methods, initial response processes, and making correct decisions during a crisis, aiming to increase participants' level of awareness regarding disasters.