Earthquake Disaster Reduction in Turkey
In 2000, following a major earthquake in Turkey, Arup joined five other British engineering and construction firms operating in the country to form the British Earthquake Consortium for Turkey (BECT).
Arup is a large multinational firm of engineers, planners and designers, with operations in more than 30 countries including Turkey. Together, the companies undertook a series of studies in a district which had been suffered seriously from quake. These studies sought to identify high risk areas with regard to future earthquakes and thus provide guidance for planning and development.
Arup led the ground engineering aspects of the consortium. This involved seismic, geological and geomorphological appraisals. This included identification of geohazards (landslides, liquefaction and fault rupture) and potential areas for development where the hazards are lower than average for the region. Together ground specialists and town planners selected locations in the district with the least risk for development.
The British Earthquake Consortium for Turkey (BECT) was established as a private sector initiative to secure UK participation in redevelopment work in the region by assisting in the planning of the reconstruction program.The work of BECT was done for the Ministry of Public Works and Settlement of the Government of Turkey. Funding came for the companies as well as from the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions of the Government of the United Kingdom.
Over six months, multidisciplinary teams from Arup’s London, Istanbul, Leeds, Hong Kong and Sydney offices, worked together with other members of the BECT consortium to develop a reconstruction framework and identify key projects to catalyse reconstruction of the province. The final report was presented to the Turkish government on 16 August 2000 and the projects were confirmed in an intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding signed on 9 September 2000.