Civil and Systems Engineering Seminar Series: Murat Güney

Description

Murat Güney, expert-in-residence at the Columbia Global Center Istanbul and lecturer in the Anthropology Department at Özyeğin University, will give a talk titled "How to Build Resilience Through Trust: Istanbul's Earthquake Risk and Innovative Policies That Work for Life's Interest" for the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.

Abstract:

1999 Marmara earthquake near Istanbul claimed tens of thousands of lives and destroyed hundreds of thousands of buildings. While this disaster triggered significant research and new building codes, these measures were not consistently enforced. After 24 years, this lack of preparation resurfaced in the 2023 Maras earthquakes in the southeast of Turkey, which led to large-scale devastation, even among newer buildings, some of which had been advertised as earthquake-resilient but still collapsed, undermining public trust.

This talk will discuss how to build resilience through building trust, because what collapsed in the 2023 earthquake was not only buildings but also the trust in public institutions. The collapse of trust in public institutions is a core issue hindering disaster preparedness. The talk will also discuss the power of political decisions taken and not taken over life and death, by disclosing the possibility of alternative policies that might work for life's interest, yet are not implemented. The talk will introduce ongoing alternative and innovative resilience building projects in the earthquake-hit regions of Turkey supported by Columbia Global's new Resilience Fund.