Page 225 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 4

Sezayi Köse - Zeynep Ayan - Ebru Vural
Kübra Özcivan - Yeşim Koçdemir

Figure 1. Disasters and Legal Arrangements in the Historical Process
(Prepared by the author.)
1939 Erzincan earthquake is One of the biggest disasters recorded in the
history of the Republic of Türkiye. As a result of the disasters experienced
together with this earthquake, it became clear that legal regulations were
needed. As a result of the devastating earthquake in Erzincan in 1939, 116,720
buildings collapsed and 32,962 lives were lost (Haçin, 2009:40). Following the
disasters experienced in the first years of the Republic, a number of Laws
and Decrees specific to the disaster area were issued. By 1959, a new legal
regulation covering the needs for the intervention of all natural disasters
and the establishment of new settlements was adopted in order to eliminate
the deficiencies in the legal basis for disaster response, thus “The Law on
Measures to be Taken and Aids to be Provided Due to Disasters Affecting
Public Life” No. 7269 entered into force. After the Erzincan earthquake in
1992, provisions were added for solving the social, economic and physical
problems related to the earthquake region.
In this process, it was aimed, with the Anti-Squatting Law No. 775, to make
improvements in slum areas, to remove the slums that cannot be improved,
instead, damaging the historical texture, to create slum prevention zones, to
avoid the formation of slum areas and illegal residential areas by providing
public housing by means of various public aids for addressing the problems
caused by rapid urbanization.
The Law No. 7269, referred to as the “Disaster Law” regarding interventions
to be made before, during and after disasters, planning and management of the
process, is still in force, although it has undergone changes over time. In brief,
the law regulates the procedures and principles related to the interventions to
be carried out during and after the disaster, the principles of determining the
disaster zones and the technical studies related to the damage identification
works to be conducted in the disaster zone, the construction of housing and
the granting of loans to those who live in buildings that have suffered severe
damage or are likely to suffer, provided that they are the beneficiaries.

214 The Journal of Environment, Urban and Climate