Gölcük was at the epicenter of one of the deadliest earthquakes in Turkish history in 1999. Some 23 years later, the northwestern town was rebuilt, while the reminders of the disaster remain buried in the waters off the coast.
Off the coast of Değirmendere neighborhood, a group of divers photographed the traces of the earthquake ahead of the anniversary of the catastrophe. Scattered at a depth of 55 meters, a girl’s shoe covered in moss and pieces of debris from collapsed buildings remain intact at the bottom of the sea. Many buildings along a stretch of the shore had collapsed into the sea when the earthquake at a magnitude of 7.4 shook Gölcük, a district of Kocaeli province.
Murat Kulakaç, a diving instructor who photographed the remains of the earthquake with Demirören News Agency (DHA) journalist Ergün Ayaz, said “all the forgotten truth is buried underneath.” “You see the force of nature down there when you see giant plane trees uprooted by tremors and hurled into the sea, remains of buildings drifted from a distance of 300 meters. At a depth of 18 meters, we have seen a three-storey building, which is now a home for the fish. We have seen remains of a hotel, restaurants and cafes,” he told DHA.
Kulakaç said the area under the sea now serves as “some kind of earthquake museum” and they had visitors from abroad, “from Germany and Spain” who dive to see the debris. “It is a sad experience for them and I have seen them crying,” he said.
Gölcük Mayor Ali Yıldırım Sezer said the earthquake transformed the town. “Gölcük erased the traces of the earthquake. We are now an industry, tourism and naval hub,” he said. The town was and is again the home of a major naval base, as well as a Ford plant. Sezer explained that 101 buildings that were heavily damaged in the earthquake were completely demolished and an urban transformation project to demolish buildings which might be damaged in a future earthquake, was completed. He said their population, which dropped to 55,000 from 80,000 after the earthquake, increased again and reached more than 172,000 people.
He said they also learned a lesson from the earthquake, that is, the importance of communications in times of a disaster. “We established crisis groups and crews for immediate response to any disaster. A radio system set up in Derince district also allows us to establish communications. In 10 minutes, all interrupted communications, necessary for search and rescue crews, can be restored,” the mayor said.
