Aydın Tiryaki (August 14, 2000 and October 29, 2006)

Following two mild earthquakes in the Marmara region last week, earthquake scenarios for Istanbul have once again come to the agenda. The promises made after August 17 and November 12 in 1999 have been forgotten, and the urgency felt in those years for necessary earthquake precautions has faded. This apathy is not limited to the authorities alone; every segment of society has become indifferent. Yet, we were wide awake on the first anniversary of the great earthquake. In those days, the sorrow for those we lost was still fresh, and I was writing with that emotional intensity:

August 17, 1999 03:02 we have not forgotten

We Are Awake on the Night Connecting August 16 to 17

We do not sleep on the night that connects August 16 to August 17. We light candles in our windows and on our balconies. At 03:02 AM, the exact minute we bid farewell to 40,000 people a year ago, we awaken those who are asleep.

We know exactly who will be asleep at that minute: The contractors who built those rotten buildings. The engineers and architects who approved those rotten buildings as technical supervisors. The administrators who granted occupancy permits to those rotten buildings. The politicians who issued zoning amnesties for the sake of votes. The authorities who were so late to grasp the reality of the earthquake.

The earthquake will strike, this is a fact of nature; and precisely to be awake during this earthquake and to prevent further loss of life, we will stay awake that night at 03:02. We will also wake the sleeping ones.

Let Us Now Demolish the Buildings That Are Likely to Collapse

We have to live with the reality of earthquakes. Who can guarantee that a new earthquake won’t strike towards dawn tonight.

We have to live with the reality of earthquakes, but let us await the new one by taking our precautions.

Demolition orders should be issued for all buildings in earthquake zones that are suspected of lacking earthquake resistance. Let us set up tent cities and build prefabricated houses right now for these people whose homes are demolished. Let’s do this so that “our people do not die in the next earthquake.” Rather than living in those tent cities and prefabricated houses missing several family members then, let them live there with their families complete and intact now.

We have a call to the authorities: Issue demolition orders right now for buildings that are likely to collapse, and demolish these buildings immediately. There won’t be people inside while you are demolishing them. An earthquake, however, is merciless.

Despair

If an earthquake strikes tonight at two minutes past three or tomorrow evening at seven, what will be different from last year. Buildings will collapse one after another… What is the difference between last year’ ¹ s building and this year’s anyway… We will perish, not one by one, but all together… Lives will be lost from among those who survived last year… We couldn’t manage to count properly last year… We won’t be able to count our lost lives once again… Or we just won’t count them… Televisions achieved very high ratings… Televisions will achieve even higher ratings…  

People are hopeless once again…

Hope

If an earthquake strikes tonight at two minutes past three or tomorrow evening at seven, what will be different from last year. Young people will run, run, run, and run even more… The world will rush to help… Civil society will be more vigilant… Many more lives will be saved… Truckloads of aid will arrive…

There is much more hope within us…

Ankara, August 14, 2000

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A Note on Methods and Tools: The original Turkish version of this work was authored entirely by the author, without any assistance from artificial intelligence. (Note: AI was utilized solely as a translation and writing assistant to prepare this English version of the original text.)