On Monday, Turkey will mark the 16th anniversary of the 1999 earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people and devastated hundreds of buildings in northwestern Turkey. The state-run Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) unveiled TAMP (the Turkish Disaster Intervention Plan) on Friday, a set of measures for mobilization after an earthquake and other major disasters.

According to figures provided by AFAD, two-thirds of people in Turkey live in regions at risk from potential earthquakes.

Turkey sits on three active fault lines running through the north, east and Aegean Sea, the total length of which is 2,900 kilometers, in addition to many smaller fault lines that traverse the country.

Introducing the action plan in the aftermath of any potential earthquake that is estimated to be particularly devastating for Istanbul and other big cities in the northwestern Marmara region, AFAD President Fuat Oktay said Turkey had learned its lessons from the Aug. 17 earthquake and sought to minimize the losses in case of another disaster.

"Over 20,000 earthquakes occur in Turkey yearly, and it is an unavoidable phenomenon. The question is not whether there will be a big earthquake, but whether the public is ready when it occurs," Oktay told reporters, while introducing the plan in Istanbul.

The plan is divided into 28 categories, ranging from communications, transportation, search and rescue and health services in the aftermath of a disaster, and AFAD crews specialized in each category will be ready for immediate deployment following a disaster. "We determined the analysis of needs after a disaster and set up a powerful communications system that compiled an inventory of needed services, equipment, etc. after a disaster in one database," Oktay said, noting that they would be able to find out everything needed in a disaster zone within 15 minutes of a disaster. "We already have a program that provides possible scenarios regarding any earthquake and have the knowledge of the scale of devastation. For instance, if an earthquake of 7.0-magnitude on the Richter scale occurred in Istanbul, we would know beforehand the possible number of casualties and need for accommodation for survivors," he said.

TAMP includes the coordination of a wider network of cooperation by AFAD with public agencies, private sector, nongovernmental organizations and volunteers. It defines the tasks every component of the network would carry out following a disaster.

Oktay says they have designated 1,332 gathering points in Istanbul to be used for temporary accommodation for survivors in case of a disaster. Alternative routes for access to the city were also designated as part of the emergency measures. Also, alternative locations for the landing of aerial vehicles and alternative roads for evacuation were included in the plan.

Though the introduction of the plan focused on Istanbul, Oktay says the plan is available for all 81 provinces in the country, with crews in every province available for immediate response to any disaster in any other province.

Years after the disaster, Turkey has seen an overhaul of measures against earthquakes, such as compulsory earthquake insurance and campaigns to raise awareness about disasters amongst the public. More importantly, the government has undertaken an ambitious project of urban transformation. Old, crumbling buildings across the country are being demolished to make way for new earthquake-proof buildings. Though it is difficult to entirely change the course of urbanization and housing that has led to haphazard development, especially in big cities decades ago, the country has gradually renewed infrastructure through this project. According to the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning, there are 42,000 risky buildings in the country that will be "transformed" into contemporary, safe buildings.

Measures are more or less in place, but the country is still prone to a major earthquake. Istanbul, a city of 14 million people, is at the heart of the concerns. Experts warn that about 30,000 buildings in the city will be either heavily damaged or completely demolished in the case of a large-scale earthquake, dubbed the "great Marmara earthquake," after the region where Istanbul and other big cities are located, the likelihood of which is high at some point in the future.