Following a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in the Marmara Sea today that was felt across Istanbul, many residents who evacuated their homes were unable to find safe gathering areas, as numerous designated earthquake assembly zones were inaccessible due to ongoing construction.
Istanbul residents took to social media to express their frustration and outrage over the lack of accessible open spaces to seek refuge during emergencies.
One user shared footage of a street packed with anxious people who had evacuated their buildings after the earthquake and said, “If you build buildings everywhere just for profit, there will be no such thing as an assembly area left. During an earthquake, people end up stuck under buildings like this. God forbid, if those buildings were to collapse, can you imagine what would happen to people?”
Poet and fiction writer Murathan Mungan said everyone living in Istanbul should be asking what happened to earthquake assembly zones.
Former journalist Büşra Erdal said, “It’s so bad that after the earthquake, the places people are gathering are still streets and avenues filled with huge buildings, hotels and residences. In Şişli, there’s no place for people to gather. The last assembly area is currently being turned into a shopping mall.”
Earthquake assembly zones in Turkey were first officially implemented after the 1999 İzmit earthquake, also known as the Marmara earthquake, which was a devastating magnitude 7.4 quake that killed over 17,000 people and exposed major gaps in urban planning and disaster preparedness.
The Turkish government and Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) began identifying and designating open-air gathering areas to improve emergency response. These areas became part of broader urban disaster plans aimed at preparing for future quakes, especially in vulnerable cities like Istanbul. Over the years, thousands of zones were designated, particularly in Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir.
After an earthquake in 2019, AFAD reported that there were 2,864 such areas in Istanbul. However, there have been differences in numbers, with imprisoned Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu saying that over 800 assembly areas were identified, and the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) saying that many of the designated areas have been developed into residential or commercial buildings, leaving only about 77 that meet the required criteria.
In contrast Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said there were “tens of thousands” of designated areas in Istanbul.
Civil society organizations, urban planners and sesimologists have warned that a significant portion of assembly zones do not meet the necessary criteria and that three-quarters of the areas identified after the 1999 earthquake have been repurposed for construction, such as residential, commercial and shopping buildings.
Criteria of assembly zones include accessibility and ease of evacuation, suitability for people with disabilities and the elderly, distance from secondary hazards like landslides or floods, flatland and proximity to residential areas that will not be affected by structural hazards and proximity to utilities.
Following today’s earthquake, social media urged authorities to address the urgent situation and restore assembly zones. They pointed out that prominent urban planners were currently behind bars on trumped-up terrorism charges and called for their release.
Tayfun Kahraman, an urban planner and former senior official at Istanbul City Hall, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his involvement in the 2013 Gezi Park protests. Gürkan Akgün, Buğra Gökçe, Emrah Şahan and Murat Çalık, prominent urban planners and local government officials, were arrested as part of investigations into the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, where officials face charges including bribery, embezzlement and the unlawful acquisition of personal data.
