With carnations in hand and the horrors of the disaster in mind, residents of towns and cities hit by the 1999 earthquake in Türkiye remembered the victims. From the northern town at the epicenter of the disaster on Aug. 17 to an Istanbul suburb where hundreds were killed, ceremonies were held on Tuesday night and in the early hours of Wednesday, at the exact time the 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck.

In Gölcük, crowds gathered for a solemn event around a monument in memory of victims on the Kavaklı coast. Gölcük, a district of Kocaeli, was at the heart of the earthquake and lost a large number of its population. When the clocks struck 3:02 a.m., the moment of the earthquake, people observed a moment of silence and prayed for the victims. "Those 45 seconds will always be remembered by the people of Gölcük," said the town’s mayor Ali Yıldırım Sezer on the sidelines of the event, referring to the duration of the earthquake. The region suffered many aftershocks after the catastrophic quake, forcing people to spend almost a week outside. "We recovered all our material losses but people we lost will not come back. Our pain is still fresh," Sezer said. "We learned a lesson and that was that disasters can happen any time and we always need to be vigilant," he added.

Speaking at an earlier remembrance ceremony in the same place, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said Türkiye took new steps to be better prepared against disasters after the 1999 earthquake. He highlighted the early warning system and said the state would always stand by those affected in any future disaster.

The minister said they are now focused on a predicted earthquake of 7.5 magnitude expected to strike Türkiye’s most crowded city Istanbul in the future. "We don’t know when it will happen but we are organizing all preparations," he said.

In Yalova, where more than 2,500 people died, people observed a vigil at a monument dedicated to earthquake victims before a silent march began to the area. People left carnations on the marble blocks where the names of victims were carved and visited an exhibition where photos of the aftermath of the earthquake that hit the northwestern province were on display.

Avcılar, where some buildings heavily damaged in the earthquake still stand, hosted another ceremony. The district on Istanbul’s European side was the only place in the city affected most by the 1999 disaster. A total of 247 people died and 28 buildings collapsed in the earthquake.

In the capital Ankara, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) conducted an earthquake drill on the anniversary. At AFAD’s headquarters, search and rescue crews simulated the aftermath of an earthquake among ruins. Accompanied by sniffer dogs, they searched the debris for survivors and pulled them out while paramedics helped the injured. Firefighters also performed a drill where they saved people trapped in a burning building.