Building resilience to cope with earthquakes: Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness Project

Istanbul, Turkey

Pixabay © Hilmi Ceper

Lead

Istanbul Project Coordination Unit (IPCU)

Main hazard(s)

Earthquakes

Disaster Risk Management phase(s)

Pre-disaster, During disaster, Post-disaster

Type(s) of measure(s)

Managerial

Management plan

Background

The objective of the Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness Project (2005-2018) was to transform Istanbul into a city resilient to a major earthquake.

The Project was based in four main components: enhancing emergency preparedness of public safety organisations to earthquakes both at provincial and municipal level, undertaking seismic risk mitigation for public facilities, ensuring their functionality through the emergency and post-disaster recovery phases (including retrofitting of hospitals, schools and other public facilities), enforcement of building codes and compliance with land use plans and provision of support to the Istanbul Provincial Administration to implement the project in an efficient and transparent manner as well as building the necessary capacity to do so.

The project managed to cover 176 cultural heritage buildings under the Directorate of Surveying and Monuments within the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, recording historical information about the assets.

Sources

The Project was financially supported by the World Bank. The World Bank Group has helped funding several projects in the theme of cultural heritage. An overview can be found here: https://projects.worldbank.org/en/projects-operations/projects-list?searchTerm=cultural%20heritage