The Turkish Earthquake

When you grow up in a country you learn to accept and expect the worst it can offer you. Californians and earthquakes have a long history. East Asia and the East Coast of America know all about typhoons and hurricanes. Other regions and countries regularly suffer from other specific disasters, both natural and man-made.

But as an expat you have to plan and prepare for new scenarios.

Growing up in the UK never prepared me for earthquakes. However, in the last three months my host country, Turkey, has suffered from two major and many hundreds of minor quakes. The first major quake, in August, of this year killed nearly 20,000 people. A few days ago, on Friday November 12, has so far claimed nearly four hundred, but the death toll is certain to rise.

To suffer one earthquake of 7.4 on the Richter scale was bad enough, but to suffer a second of 7.2 three months later, only sixty miles from the first has been catastrophic to the country.

A major natural disaster always dominates the headlines of the TV news channels and the newspapers for a while. But as viewer interest wanes and fresher news comes in the story slips down the list until it fades from view. Viewers could be forgiven for thinking that as the fatality list stops growing and the reports get shorter and less frequent, that the disaster is over and people are returning to their normal lives.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. Take the Marmara earthquake of August 17, 1999. A 30km wide ribbon of land stretching 240km from west to east was devastated and towns up to 150km south suffered damage and fatalities. Forty-five percent of the population of Turkey lives in the earthquake zone and most other residents of the country have friends and relatives living there. The country's industrial heartland also sits firmly in the devastated corridor.

Three months after the August quake, 100,000 people were still living in tents. With the second earthquake that number has risen hugely

The first earthquake is estimated to have cost the country $12 billion. The second is likely to a similar amount and Turkey was not rich to start with. Tourism, one of Turkeys' main foreign currency revenue earners, has suffered terribly too.

Even on the south coast, in areas classified as low risk earthquake zones, tourism is almost non-existent. The country has been tarred as dangerous.

Financial aid to rebuild the homes and office blocks will always be welcome, but aid will only replace the buildings.

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