Emergency Aid for Rehabilitation after the Earthquake Disaster in the Western Part of Turkey
(Dispatch of JICA experts to check building damage)

September 3, 1999

1. On September 3 (Fri), the Government of Japan decided to dispatch a team of JICA experts for about two weeks from September 5 to Turkey, where an unprecedentedly large earthquake has caused many casualties, in order to provide technical guidance in checking damage to buildings.
   
   
2. In the disaster-stricken area in western Turkey, many buildings that were destroyed or are in imminent danger of collapse are still left unattended, and for the prevention against secondary disaster damage has to be checked urgently and the amount of temporary housing for the afflicted needs to be estimated as soon as possible. For that purpose, a seven-member team of JICA experts comprising officials from the Ministry of Construction, Osaka Prefecture, Hyogo Prefecture and the University of Tokyo will be dispatched to Turkey to provide technical guidance to local engineers, including staff from the Ministry of Public Works and Housing of Turkey and local governments concerned.
   
   
3. The request for the dispatch of an expert team was made directly to Minister Seiji Morimoto, Embassy of Japan in Turkey, by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Husamettin Ozkan. And also, the Japan Disaster Relief earthquake-proofing study expert team, dispatched from August 22 to 28, made a report requesting that checking building damage should be conducted urgently. The Government of Japan has therefore decided to dispatch the team as part of a series of assistance it has extended to Turkey, following the dispatch of emergency rescue teams.
   
   
4. At about 3 am on August 17 (Tue) local time, an earthquake registering 7.4 on the Richter Scale hit the northwestern part of Turkey (its seismic center was located 15 km deep in the outskirts of Izmit, 110 km east of Istanbul), causing a large number of casualties and physical damage such as collapsed buildings in an area extending as wide as a 50 km-radius to the east and west of Izmit. At present, local reports estimate that 40,000 persons are dead or missing, 25,000 injured, and about 90,000 houses were demolished by the earthquake.
   
   

Related Information (Japan-Turkey Relations)