It has been 26 years since the 17 August 1999 Marmara Earthquake, which had its epicenter in the Gölcük district of Kocaeli and was described at the time as the "disaster of the century."
In the quake, which struck at 03:02 AM with a magnitude of 7.4 and lasted for 45 seconds, 17,480 people lost their lives and 43,953 were injured across Kocaeli, Yalova, Sakarya, Istanbul, and Düzce.
According to the July 2010 report by the Parliamentary Research Commission established by the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) to investigate earthquake risk and determine necessary measures in earthquake management, the disaster left nearly 200,000 people homeless.
A total of 66,441 homes and 10,901 businesses were destroyed. Nearly 16 million people were affected at various levels, and damage assessments were conducted for 285,211 residences and 42,902 workplaces.
In Istanbul alone, 454 people died during the earthquake, and the number rose to 981 with the addition of those who succumbed to injuries after being brought from Yalova, Düzce, and Gölcük to the city's hospitals.
The quake injured 1,880 people in Istanbul, and nearly 41,000 residential and commercial buildings sustained damage. A total of 18,162 homes became uninhabitable due to moderate to severe structural damage.
Out of 3,171 schools in the city, 820 were damaged — 118 suffered moderate and 13 severe damage. Of nearly 10,000 public buildings in Istanbul, 1,137 sustained light damage, 387 moderate, and 37 were severely damaged.
Avcılar was the hardest-hit district in Istanbul. In Avcılar alone, 270 people were killed and hundreds were injured. The district saw 1,823 homes and 326 businesses either collapse or suffer heavy damage.
Additionally, 5,106 homes and 872 businesses had moderate damage, while 3,685 homes and 461 businesses were lightly damaged.
Through urban transformation efforts led by ministries, TOKİ (the Housing Development Administration of Türkiye), and other institutions, significant recovery was achieved.
In the affected cities, new earthquake-resistant buildings were constructed by TOKİ, municipalities, and the private sector. Public buildings — particularly schools and hospitals — with light damage were reinforced to withstand future quakes.
