“None of us are prepared at all.” Ikra Burgucu, a 26-year-old influencer born and lived in Istanbul all her life, expresses her concerns about a possible following major Istanbul earthquake after the 6.2 magnitude earthquake that occurred in Istanbul at 12.49 pm today in Turkish time. The earthquake struck on a symbolic day for the country: April 23, National Sovereignty and Children’s Day. The Republican People’s Party (CHP), the main opposition force, announced the cancellation of a march planned for the celebration in Istanbul, and the municipality in Sakarya province, among the earthquake-hit areas, announced the suspension of all scheduled events.
On February 6, 2023, after an earthquake centered in Kahramanmaraş and known as the “disaster of the century”, all eyes turned to Istanbul. Experts have long been warning that a major earthquake was expected in the city.
Turkish Minister of the Interior Ali Yerlikaya made the following statements on his X account: “An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 occurred in Silivri, Marmara Sea, Istanbul. Regarding the earthquake, which was also felt in neighboring provinces, AFAD, Turkish disaster and emergency management authority, and all teams of our relevant institutions have started field scans.”
Burgucu, who caught the earthquake in the gym, describes her experiences as follows: “I was caught in the gym, fortunately it was the entrance floor, but if it had lasted longer, there would definitely have been very heavy destruction. I had a panic attack, the people next to me panicked the same way, no one could recover.”
Immediately after the earthquake, she says she threw herself out on the streets like many other locals in Istanbul: “I haven’t dared to go home yet, I am out like everyone else. Istanbul and its people are never prepared for such an earthquake, we have nothing to do but throw ourselves out on the streets.”
Burgucu also expresses that the idea of staying in the city scares her after what happened: “I have come to the conclusion that I really don’t want to live in Istanbul with such a population and such a bad organization, I will directly leave the city tomorrow. I don’t even believe I can stay at home at night.”
Although 24-year-old Zeynep Ustalar who was born and lived in Istanbul for all her life was not in Istanbul at the time of the earthquake, she shares her concerns through the panic her family experienced: “We have experienced earthquakes like this before, but we have never had an earthquake this strong and this shaking. So both my parents panicked a lot. They immediately went down the stairs.”
She states that there was no damage in her apartment. However, she underlines: “Honestly, I attribute the fact that no buildings collapsed and no lives were lost in this earthquake to the fact that the earthquake was really short. If the earthquake had lasted a little longer, it could have been very different.”
Ustalar says that she thinks Istanbul is not ready for such a disaster and adds: “Even if we have an earthquake kit by our bedside, when there is a bigger earthquake in Istanbul, it will be a big problem to find people to help. And I definitely think that urban planning in the city should be revised.” She expresses her thoughts on the idea of moving out of Istanbul: “I rethought about living in Istanbul. Actually, after the earthquake on February 6, I was suggesting to my family that we should leave Istanbul, that we should not live in Istanbul. But my family told me that the house was strong… And of course, it is not easy to sell your house and move to another city.”
Ustalar believes that Istanbul’s urban layout must be restructured. She emphasizes the urgent need to renovate existing buildings and initiate efforts to ease the city’s dense population, which now approaches 16 million residents.
