ELAZIG GUNISIGI NEWSPAPER - January 2011
STRATEGIC PLAN 2011-2014
A report titled "Earthquake Department Strategic Plan 2011-2014" has been published by the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) and Earthquake Department of Turkey. The fact that the strategy plan covers a four-year period is noteworthy. In a country where daily plans are rarely implemented, it is encouraging to see that someone is preparing annual plans.
Earthquake is not the only natural disaster in our country, but it is the most dangerous one for us. For this reason, we must develop a strategy not just to deal with the consequences of earthquakes, but to take preventive measures before the earthquake strikes.
It is quite difficult to say that institutions and organizations in our country related to earthquake activities work in full coordination. However, unless this coordination is established, strategic plans will remain condemned to gather dust in archive files.
The Earthquake Department's mission includes important tasks. The points mentioned also summarize what we need to do. To briefly restate them as outlined in their own report:
- Establishing and operating a weak and strong ground motion observation network according to international standards, and expanding it to meet the country’s needs.
- Continuously recording weak and strong ground motions in real-time.
- Calculating speed, acceleration, and other earthquake parameters from data obtained from seismic networks and promptly informing relevant institutions.
- Making preliminary damage predictions based on various distances from the earthquake’s epicenter during an earthquake and informing crisis management centers.
- Automatically evaluating the strong ground motion data collected from the earthquake region and creating "Isoseismic Maps" showing the distribution of earthquake intensity.
- Developing attenuation relationships of ground acceleration as a function of distance, tectonic and geological structure based on the strong ground motion data.
- Developing earthquake-resistant construction techniques, preparing earthquake hazard and risk maps, creating resources for earthquake master plans, and earthquake scenarios for provinces.
- Establishing local and dense networks on an urban scale to determine safe settlement areas for safe construction, by establishing the earthquake-ground-building relationship at regional and urban levels.
- Conducting research on reducing earthquake damage, studying earthquakes and their effects, and preparing and developing maps, reports, and research papers on Turkey’s earthquake situation.
- Collecting and archiving the speed and acceleration records of earthquakes that have occurred in our country, continuously updating them, and making them available to national and international researchers and the scientific community via the Internet (http://www.deprem.gov.tr).
- Carrying out the process of issuing and publishing Earthquake-Resistant Building Regulations, which include design and construction principles for earthquake-resistant buildings, and techniques for strengthening existing structures.
- Conducting earthquake training, developing international relations, establishing early warning and pre-damage prediction systems, and determining earthquake parameters.
Reducing the material and emotional damage caused by earthquakes is only possible with buildings that meet earthquake safety standards. Strengthening and renewing existing structures and ensuring that newly constructed buildings are highly earthquake-resistant should be the primary goal of Turkey's earthquake strategy.
The ideas written on paper gain value only when put into practice. It is hoped that the strategic plans, which are crucial for our future, will be implemented as soon as possible...