Pioneer Disaster Resilience Studies at the ITU: Prof. Dr. Nilgun Okay from the Department of Geological Engineering was ranked at the top of the list regarding the Most Publishing Researchers on Social Sciences among all engineering departments of the ITU

by Halide Nur Dursun | Jan 10, 2024

After the 1999 earthquake, Turkey began to develop a modern disaster and emergency management system. The Marmara region, home to 70% of the country's population and 75% of its industrial facilities, is at risk of a major earthquake at any time. There are serious concerns that Turkey is not prepared for a catastrophic event. There is an inefficient use of disaster risk reduction, resulting in low awareness and lack of action at the local level. This is the main challenge in reducing vulnerability.

Nilgün Okay's publications focus on reducing vulnerability and disaster risk to build local resilience. She has published extensively on this topic. In these articles, she discusses disaster resilience strategies that enhance coping capacities. Considering the relationship with the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development (SDG) and the Sendai Framework Document for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015, several comprehensive disaster preparedness and risk reduction projects were carried out for Istanbul district municipalities based on local data. For example, ecological risks and vulnerabilities have been assessed with geological, geomorphological characteristics of the city (SDG 11). These studies focused on the unequal impact of disasters on socially disadvantaged groups (e.g. women, people with disabilities, the elderly) and on identifying trends in different models of resilience policies and practices (SDG 5). These contributions are having a significant impact on scientific knowledge, as well as on increasing disaster resilience through active planning and preparation by local community disaster management arrangements as volunteers.

N Okay Resilience

İTÜ Faculty of Mines

The Faculty of Mines was established in 1953 in Istanbul. At its first years, the faculty composed of mainly Turkish and German professors, and its program was similar to those days’ famous mining schools such as Aachen, Clausthal and Freiberg.

Today, the Faculty of Mines with five departments (Mining, Geological, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Geophysical, and Mineral Processing Engineering) and 13 sub-divisions is graduating young and proficient engineers to search, develop and produce underground sources of Turkey.
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