Follow the latest on the earthquake in Turkey
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey in the early hours of Monday morning is not the first to cause devastation in the country.
Much of Turkey lies on fault lines meaning that small and moderate earthquakes are common.
Monday’s quake brought down at least 6,000 buildings across the 10 provinces of Turkey, including hospitals and other public premises. The true scale of the damage and death toll is still being assessed.
But the threat has been well-known for years.
Earthquake researchers say there is a 95 per cent chance that an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 or stronger will strike Istanbul within the next 70 years. Such an event, they warn, would be likely to destroy at least 194,000 buildings and leave at least 10 per cent of the city’s 15 million inhabitants homeless.
Following Turkey’s last major earthquake, which hit Izmir in 1999, killed over 17,000 people, left another 50,000 injured and 500,000 homeless, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was then prime minister and is now President, took action.
Turkey's government passed legislation in 2004 mandating that all new construction met modern earthquake-proof standards.
Mr Erdogan made strong construction a political priority after another quake struck the Aegean coast in 2020, killing 114 people.
And yet experts say that the years of rapid, loosely-overseen development since the laws were passed means they may not have been enforced. That is on top of those built before they came into force.
The construction of buildings was also not “really adequate for an area that's susceptible to large earthquakes”, Roger Musson, honorary research associate at the British Geological Survey, told AFP.
Joanna Faure Walker, head of the University College London's Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, called for Turkey to check whether the legislation had been adhered to in light of the latest disaster.
She also urged Turkey to review “whether there is the possibility to improve the safety of older buildings”.
Carmen Solana, a volcanologist at the UK's Portsmouth University, said that because earthquakes cannot be predicted, tremor-resistant buildings are crucial in affected areas.
“The resistant infrastructure is unfortunately patchy in southern Turkey and especially Syria, so saving lives now mostly relies [on efforts to rescue survivors],” she said.
In Istanbul, Tayfun Kahraman, then head of the municipality’s Earthquake Risk Management Department, told Reuters in 2020 that “we do not believe that building regulations were applied correctly in Istanbul in the past”. However, he insisted that was changing.
“If strengthening the structures is determined to be a practical intervention, then this will be offered as a solution,” he said at the time.
So what can be done to prevent a building from collapsing?
In Japan, all buildings — even temporary ones — must be able to withstand powerful earthquakes. Building codes stipulate that smaller quakes shouldn’t damage buildings — they must be able to move and dissipate energy.
One way is using shock absorbers in the base, usually rubber blocks under the foundations and in the internal structures. Designing the buildings using regular columns and spacing helps prevent them from collapsing as does ensuring the materials are of sufficient standards and no corners are being cut.
This can be expensive, but not always.
World's deadliest earthquakes — in pictures
Using the appropriate strength of concrete and rebar steel in a building is important and straightforward. Even without additional measures, ensuring that the basic fabric of the structure is well-built is key.
That can be applied in middle-income and developing countries.
When an 8.2 magnitude quake hit Chile in 2014, only six people were killed and nine injured.
Experts attributed the small toll to tight building regulations.
“They’re a seismically active region of the world and they are very good at implementing their building codes, similar to California,” John Bellini, a Denver-based geophysicist at the US Geological Survey, told CNN at the time.
The country also had up-to-date planning. They evacuated over a million people from the city of Coquimbo within hours of the first quake, to save people from tsunamis. It meant that there was a much lower risk of casualties if aftershocks brought down buildings that were already damaged.
However, experts all agree that preparing for earthquakes is only half the battle. Looking at what worked and learning from mistakes after major quakes, as well as sharing best practices between at-risk countries, helps engineers find the best design to mitigate devastation.
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The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
MATCH INFO
Who: UAE v USA
What: first T20 international
When: Friday, 2pm
Where: ICC Academy in Dubai
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE%20v%20West%20Indies
%3Cp%3EFirst%20ODI%20-%20Sunday%2C%20June%204%20%0D%3Cbr%3ESecond%20ODI%20-%20Tuesday%2C%20June%206%20%0D%3Cbr%3EThird%20ODI%20-%20Friday%2C%20June%209%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EMatches%20at%20Sharjah%20Cricket%20Stadium.%20All%20games%20start%20at%204.30pm%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EUAE%20squad%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EMuhammad%20Waseem%20(captain)%2C%20Aayan%20Khan%2C%20Adithya%20Shetty%2C%20Ali%20Naseer%2C%20Ansh%20Tandon%2C%20Aryansh%20Sharma%2C%20Asif%20Khan%2C%20Basil%20Hameed%2C%20Ethan%20D%E2%80%99Souza%2C%20Fahad%20Nawaz%2C%20Jonathan%20Figy%2C%20Junaid%20Siddique%2C%20Karthik%20Meiyappan%2C%20Lovepreet%20Singh%2C%20Matiullah%2C%20Mohammed%20Faraazuddin%2C%20Muhammad%20Jawadullah%2C%20Rameez%20Shahzad%2C%20Rohan%20Mustafa%2C%20Sanchit%20Sharma%2C%20Vriitya%20Aravind%2C%20Zahoor%20Khan%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE%20SPECS
%3Cp%3EEngine%3A%203-litre%20V6%20turbo%20(standard%20model%2C%20E-hybrid)%3B%204-litre%20V8%20biturbo%20(S)%0D%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20350hp%20(standard)%3B%20463hp%20(E-hybrid)%3B%20467hp%20(S)%0D%3Cbr%3ETorque%3A%20500Nm%20(standard)%3B%20650Nm%20(E-hybrid)%3B%20600Nm%20(S)%0D%0D%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh368%2C500%0D%3Cbr%3EOn%20sale%3A%20Now%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Simran
Director Hansal Mehta
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey
Three stars
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- Margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars
- Energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- Infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes
- Many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
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