Page 379 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 4

Fatih Kara

Düzce Konuralp
(on the plain) (on the rock)

rock rock
scale-free

Figure 3. Faults heat the Düzce Plain from below, ventilate it and feed it with minerals.
Düzce which was settled by the end of 19th century in the middle of a plain, has
experienced flood disasters; on the other hand, the Konuralp adjacent to the city settled
on a rocky ground has not been affected by these disasters.
The Elazığ-Sivrice earthquake that occurred in 2020 did not destroy the
4000-year-old Harput on the rock, but it hit Uluova, Kuzova and Altınova, which
were opened for reconstruction in the last half century, as well as the Battalgazi
Plain of Malatya. It should be noted that the earthquake that occurred on
7
Samos Island in the same year also destroyed Bornova (Burunova) which is
located 90 km away from it ; more than a million structures settled on the rock
between these two locations were not affected. It cannot be a coincidence
8
that Van Castle, which is 2800 years old and made of mud brick on limestone,
survived the major earthquakes that occur every 30-40 years in the region
without damage. Even it is a crystal clear fact that the structures belonging to
the Urartu, Seljuk and Ottoman civilizations were buried by earthquakes in the
plain that makes the castle look like an island... Similarly, the earthquake that
occurred in Kocaeli in 1999 did not break even a single window of a house on
the slopes of Kocaeli adjacent to the epicenter, while it caused destruction in
the plains of Avcılar, the former name of Göltarla, 160 km away, and Tekirdağ,
250 km away from the epicenter. 9
The earthquakes that struck Kahramanmaraş on February 6, 2023 have
once again revealed the fact that the plains should be used for agriculture and
the rocky floors for settlement (Figure 4). In the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes,
called the disaster of the century, the structures adjacent to the epicenter
but on a solid rock floor were not damaged, while the structures on the

7 Oral interview: Prof.Dr. Ilyas Yilmazer, March 19-20, 2023
8 Oral interview: Prof.Dr. Ilyas Yilmazer, March 19-20, 2023
9 Oral interview: Prof.Dr. Ilyas Yilmazer, March 19-20, 2023

368 The Journal of Environment, Urban and Climate