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The Effects of the 6 February Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes
on the Business World

prepare “Emergency Action Plan” that is mandatory in accordance with the
legislation. Thus, SMEs can determine the level of preparedness for disasters
and identify the missing aspects.
During the COVID-19 period, the Sağlam KOBİ Project adopted the vision
of providing support to the disaster management and recovery processes of
SMEs. Based on the ability of digitalized SMEs to more effectively combat the
negative economic effects of the Covid-19 process, activities were designed
and contents were created for SMEs in order to support the digitalization
capacities of them. With the “Digitalization and Disaster Resilience Program”
carried out in cooperation with TOBB and Google Türkiye, SMEs were
provided with certain services in order to support their business continuity.
Within the scope of the project, training of trainer was provided to 21
Chambers / Commodity Exchanges affiliated to TOBB and it was ensured
that Chambers / Commodity Exchanges throughout Türkiye gained the
qualification of a “Center of Excellence” in the field of durability and business
continuity for enterprises.

3.6. New Industrial Basin Project

The Marmara region, especially İstanbul, is facing very different problems
due to the population and industrial density. In addition to the social and
environmental problems, the expected Marmara earthquake also makes
it necessary to create a new industrial basin project in our country. It would
be beneficial to declare Central Anatolia and the Mediterranean Region as
new industry basins since these regions have the infrastructure, strategic
importance and qualified human resources as well as a low risk of earthquake.
The region bordered by the provinces of Ankara, Konya, Kayseri and Mersin
and located in the middle of these provinces should be declared as the new
industrial basin of Türkiye. It is required to get more investment incentives to
this region than the 6 regions, to encourage moving from Marmara to this
region, to increase housing and social facility opportunities by making it as
a center of attraction, to provide railway and highway infrastructure and to
connect to Mersin Port. Thus, it will also contribute to the urban transformation
process of İstanbul and its surroundings. This mobilization will also make a
positive contribution to the competitiveness of our country’s industry.
Instead of Conclusion: Measures to be Taken for the Business World’s
Resilience to Disasters
This part of the study touches upon the studies carried out by TOBB to
prepare the Turkish business world for disasters, suggestions and measures to
be taken. In order to be prepared for major disasters such as earthquakes in
Türkiye, the following suggestions are listed for Turkish business world:

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