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A series of earthquakes Thursday centered in the Marmara Sea shook Istanbul, with the strongest measured at 5.0 by Türkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD). Following the tremors, thousands of residents rushed into the streets. In many districts, however, people reported that they could not access designated emergency assembly areas.
Instead, they gathered in narrow side streets, particularly in neighborhoods such as Sisli, Bagcilar, and Gungoren. Social media platforms quickly filled with posts from citizens highlighting their frustration and fears.
Authorities have previously designated certain sites in the city as emergency assembly areas—public spaces meant to provide safety for residents immediately after disasters. Yet in several places, ongoing construction projects were found occupying these locations.
In Sisli, for example, residents pointed out that a high-rise residential development had taken over an area once marked as an official assembly zone, leaving people with no open ground to gather.
The Istanbul Planning Agency (IPA) had already raised concerns in its July 2024 report titled Outlook on Urban Agenda. According to this study, Türkiye hosts 455 shopping malls, 133 of which are located in Istanbul. Strikingly, 95 of these malls sit on land that was once designated for earthquake assembly purposes.
The report emphasized that areas capable of providing shelter for at least 42,000 people have been transformed into commercial centers. In fact, each of the 95 malls occupies more than 20,000 square meters—space that could otherwise serve as critical refuge in a city prone to major seismic activity.
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