First nationwide quake drill held across country

ISTANBUL

The first nationwide earthquake drill was held across the country on Nov. 12, the anniversary of the Düzce quake, one of the largest in the country’s history.

With a system applied for the first time, warnings were made from national broadcaster TRT’s television and radio channels in “the drop-cover-hold on” earthquake exercise held simultaneously in 81 provinces of Türkiye and Turkish Cyprus on Nov. 12 at 6:57 p.m.

All television and radio channels affiliated with TRT simultaneously issued announcements to warn people of the earthquake drill.

No defense warning and emergency vehicle sirens were used in order not to encounter any negative situations and not to cause panic, officials said. Whereas a voice notification was made from the announcement systems of the municipalities and mosques connected to the central prayer’s call system.

With the quake warning given at 6:57 p.m., the participants both in the AFAD headquarters and in the regions where Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu attended the live broadcast from Düzce, Istanbul and several provinces exercised the drop-cover-hold on.

In the stands in the garden of the AFAD headquarters, information was provided to citizens on what to do during and after the disaster.

Meanwhile, following the completion of the exercise, the citizens who lost their lives both in the Düzce earthquake and in all disasters that occurred in the country were commemorated in all 81 provinces and Turkish Cyprus.

The AFAD carries out informative activities in a bid to “create a disaster-resilient society.” More than 66,000 exercises have been carried out in schools, libraries, hospitals, public buildings, dormitories, nursing homes, courthouses, prisons, detention centers, airports, shopping malls and terminals within the scope of “the 2022 Disaster Drill Year.”

Türkiye is crossed by fault lines and is prone to earthquakes.

In 1999, an earthquake rattled the Black Sea province of Düzce on Nov. 12 at 6:57 p.m. local time with a magnitude of 7.2, causing damage and at least 845 fatalities.

The epicenter was approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) to the east of the Kocaeli earthquake that happened a few months earlier.