Turkey and Syria after the Earthquakes - Panel 4: October 21, 2023

On February 6, 2023, the Southeastern part of Turkey and Northern Syria were struck by devastating earthquakes measuring 7.8 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, claiming an estimated 60,000 lives and leaving over 160,000 buildings severely damaged or collapsed. The impacted cities, including Kahramanmaraş, Adiyaman, and Hatay, now face a humanitarian crisis that necessitates urgent aid and long-term, sustainable rebuilding efforts. In the following months, similar disasters took place in Morocco and Afghanistan… 

In response to this pressing need, CARRRE (Collective Action for Readiness, Recovery, and Resilience), a collective comprising Turkish-American architects and academics based in the United States of which SOUR is a proud founding member, has partnered with the American Institute of Architects NY (AIANY) and Salt (Istanbul). Our collaboration aims to focus on the rebuilding endeavors in the affected regions, harnessing innovative technologies and architectural processes to forge a safer, resourceful, and resilient built environment.

On October 21, at 10am EST and 5pm GMT+3, CARRRE will host the fourth panel discussion titled "Long-Term Recovery (2): Building Back Better." This panel aims to address the challenges and opportunities tied to the long-term, municipal-level planning initiatives and resilient rebuilding of cities and communities post-earthquake. Expert speakers will delve into various crucial topics, including the interplay between natural disasters and sustainable development, seismic evaluation and retrofitting, and sustainable urban and economic development guidelines.

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Speakers:

• Prof. Ayşegül Askan Gündoğan, Engineer; Executive Board Member, Earthquake Engineering Association of Turkey (EEAT); Prof. at Middle East Technical University (METU), Dept. of Civil Engineering
• Dr. Yasuaki Onoda, Architect and Planner; Lecturer at UCLA Architecture and Urban Design; Vice President, Architectural Institute of Japan; 2022 Architectural Institute of Japan Research Award
• Ülge Ugurlu, Senior Project Adviser and Local Government Expert, VNG International, International Cooperation Agency of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities

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Attendees have the option to join in person at either AIANY in NYC or Salt in Istanbul, or participate online through Zoom. 

In addition to encouraging attendance, the organizers are urging attendees to generously donate to the Turkish Philanthropy Funds, further supporting the planning and rebuilding efforts in the affected regions.

For more information about CARRRE and the upcoming event, please visit www.carrre.org. 

Photo credits: Ingrid Woudwijk