Schedule 9th International Degrowth Conference

Turkey was hit by two major earthquakes on 6 February 2023 with 7.7 and 7.6 magnitudes

with epicentre in the Pazacık and Elbistan districts of Kahramanmaraş province in south-
eastern Turkey. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, the earthquakes affected

14,013,196 people in an area of 108,812 km2 covering 11 provinces in eastern and south-
eastern Anatolia. As a result of the growth-oriented policies of the central government, which

has been in power since 2002, pasture areas as well as natural protected areas have been
zoned for construction, construction process inspection has been privatised and, last but not
least, with the zoning amnesty came into play in 2018, only in the area affected by the
earthquake, 290,929 buildings built in contrary to the regulations could obtain registration
certificates. Due to the policies of the central government mentioned above, the earthquakes
in question turned into a catastrophe where approximately 500,000 buildings were severely
damaged or collapsed and according to official numbers, more than 50,000 citizens lost their
lives.
With the catastrophic consequences of the earthquakes, the failure of growth-oriented housing
policies to ensure environmental sustainability and social justice has become more visible than
ever, highlighting the urgency of formulating and implementing degrowth-oriented housing
policies. The earthquakes, which happened only two months before the general elections,
have created acute, temporary and permanent housing needs for which degrowth-oriented

housing policies are particularly crucial to ensure housing justice. Instead of conducting in-
depth studies on the policies to be formulated in the aftermath of the earthquakes, the central

government, under the pressure of winning the upcoming elections despite the objections of

various professional chambers, is taking hasty decisions as a continuation of the pre-
earthquake housing policies.

According to the preliminary estimates by the UNDP, the earthquakes generated between 116
and 210 million tonnes of debris. Hazardous materials such as asbestos were released into
the air and debris was washed into nature reserves during debris removal operations without
proper precautions such as irrigation and waste segregation. The central government
announced the need for 650,000 houses aftermath of the earthquakes, and the construction
of 244,000 houses and 75,000 village houses will be built within a year. It was emphasized
that the houses will be provided to the earthquake victims with interest-free loans spread over
20 years. Additionally, agricultural, forested, and pasture areas have been zoned for
construction with a law enacted within the scope of the State of Emergency declared after the
earthquakes. Furthermore, while the aftershocks are still continuing, foundation laying
processes in fertile agricultural lands have been started. On the other hand, the main
opposition promises to provide the houses without any charge if they win the elections. Turkey
presents a special case for discussing post-earthquake housing policies in the context of
degrowth as elections are only two months away.

Info

Day: 2023-08-30
Start time: 13:00
Duration: 00:15
Room: ZV-8-3
Type: Paper Presentation
Theme: Degrowth in the year 2023

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