ISTANBUL (AA) – “I just cannot forget it; I lost 10 relatives in one night,” says one woman attending Wednesday’s 17th anniversary of Turkey’s devastating 1999 Marmara earthquake.
Gunes Cakir was one of the thousands of people who suffered in the cataclysmic disaster.
She lost her sister, brother-in-law, nieces, nephews and cousins when the magnitude-7.4 quake hit Turkey’s northwest at 3:02 a.m. local time, killing around 18,000 people and leaving almost 50,000 others wounded.
“My whole world came crashing down around my ears,” she says as she remembers her pain.
It was one of worst natural tragedies Turkey has experienced.
“We have not forgotten, and will never forget, the pain that wounded Turkey 17 years ago,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim tweeted on Wednesday.
Many families gathered in graveyards early on Wednesday to commemorate earthquake victims across Kocaeli, Sakarya and Yalova provinces, all of which were heavily damaged in the disaster.
Tears, sadness and prayers were everywhere at the August 17 Graveyard in the Golcuk district of Kocaeli, epicenter of the earthquake.
Golcuk Mayor Mehmet Ellibes said around 6,000 people died in his district alone.
“We were not prepared when we got caught in 1999; and we paid the price,” he admitted. “It is not the earthquake that killed our citizens, it is the buildings which were not earthquake-resistant.”
The mayor stressed the need to learn how to live with an awareness of earthquakes.
District Governor of Golcuk Adem Yazici agreed, saying settlement planning is the responsibility of both the state and the public.
Yazici pointed out that Turkey is placed in an earthquake zone and that tremors are inevitable for the country.
“Continuing education on earthquakes is a must,” said Professor Cengiz Kurtulus from Kocaeli University, head of the college’s geophysical engineering department.
“With frequent training and drills starting from neighborhoods, the earthquake issue should always be high on the agenda.”
*Humeyra Atilgan Buyukovali contributed to this report.
