The August 17, 1999, Kocaeli (Turkey) earthquake — lifelines and preparedness

In the weeks following the Kocaeli earthquake small teams of Canadian researchers had the opportunity to visit the heavily damaged regions, primarily the provinces of Koecali (Izmit) and Sakarya (Adapazari). Amongst other observations, information was gathered on the performance during the earthquake of regional lifelines. The visits by the team members were staggered between August and October, which provided the opportunity to observe the recovery and reinstatement of the systems in the short term. Performance during and post-earthquake of regional lifelines are reported in this paper. Comments are made on the state of preparedness with some suggestions for enhanced preparedness in Canada.Key words: Turkey earthquake, highway, hospital, railway, water, search and rescue, communications.