Lessons Learnt From Van and Ercis Earthquakes 2011, Turkey: An Evaluation of Disaster Management
Ass. Prof. Dr. Menaf Turan

Abstract
In Turkey, where high amount of residential areas are at risk of earthquake, disaster risks are needed to be considered while preparing the development of plans. Unfortunately, the scenes after every natural disaster show that this fact had not been included in the planning process. A significant part of the problems encountered in the interventions during and immediately after the earthquake arises from this negligence and disaster management process are affected negatively. After two earthquakes with both lives and economical losses occurred in the region of Ercis and Van in October 23 and November 9, 2011, one of the questions which was sought to find an answer was that “in what extent does the layout of urban reconstruction and planning affect the disaster management?” Therefore, the susceptibility of the plans to the disaster are needed to be considered in the preparation of the reconstruction plans. This subject is classified as disaster sensitive planning or conservation planning in planning literature. For the disaster management process to be effective with all phases, planning at each stage and planning is needed to be associated with the disaster management. In this article, the relationship between disaster management and urban planning are questioned in the case of Ercis and Van earthquakes.

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