Page 263 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 4

Tuğrul Çamaş - A. Menaf Turan

İstanbul and Dardanelles Straits. The mountain ranges running parallel to the
Black Sea in the north and parallel to the Mediterranean in the south appear as
important elevations that separate the central Anatolian plateau from the seas
and the marine climate. However, as a high plateau, the Anatolian peninsula
has 15 valleys with the streams of Kizilirmak, Yeşilirmak, Euphrates, Tigris,
Ceyhan, Seyhan, Sakarya rivers. On the other hand, it has two large lakes,
including Van and Salt lake (wikipedia.org , 2023). Due to its geographical
location and climatic characteristics, the Anatolian peninsula hosted many
civilizations throughout history. These lands, which were home to the ancient
civilizations of the world, have also been very important in all periods of history
as the center of trade, politics, administration, culture and art.

2.2. Fault Lines on the Anatolian Peninsula
The geographical location of Anatolian peninsula, which attributes historical
and strategic importance, is also extremely prone to seismicity, which carries
a disaster risk. The peninsula is located in such a point of the intersection and
even overlapping of fault lines where Arabian and African Plates push towards
the Eurasian Plate. This pressure regime controls the formation of many active
faults and the seismicity of the region. The general tectonic structure of the
region is controlled by the deformation zone known as the Bitlis Zagros Thrust
Fault Belt (BZTFB), in which the Arabian Plate moving northwards collides with
the Anatolian Plate. The dominant fault zones in the region are the Eastern
Anatolian Fault Zone (DAFZ), the North Anatolian Fault Zone (KAFZ) and the
BZTFB. This collision is managed via Karlıova Triple Junction, where right-
lateral strike-slip fault KAFZ meets the left-lateral strike-slip fault DAFZ.
In addition, to the east of this junction, the dominant elements are mostly
right-lateral faults in the NW-SE direction and left-lateral faults in the NE-SW
direction. Relay ramps in Muş, Van Lake and Pasinler in the E-W direction
are also among the significant tectonic elements in Eastern Anatolia Region
(mta.gov.tr, 2023; wikipedia. org, 2023). Due to this active tectonic regime
mentioned above, a large number of earthquakes has occurred in the region
so far (Işık et al., 2021). It is an indisputable fact that further earthquakes may
occur there.

2.3. Disasters and Türkiye
A disaster is defined as natural and human-caused extraordinary events
that leads to great damage to the living and inanimate environment, cause
significant loss of life and property, and results in economic and social losses.
According to this; disasters caused by humans are called man-made disasters,
and the ones due to natural events are called natural disasters. In addition

252 The Journal of Environment, Urban and Climate