Calculation of the Index of Turkey's Vulnerability in Natural Disasters

Millions of people are affected by the disasters arising annually due to natural and man-made situations in our country and in the world. Many losses of lives and injuries are seen and thus an economic loss of billions of dollars arises. In addition, the disasters affect infrastructures and superstructures of countries and interrupt the transportation, communication, and education and health services at different levels (1). According to the publication prepared by the Department of Disaster Investigation and Damage Assessment affiliated to Ministry of Public Works and Settlement, General Directorate of Disaster Affairs from 1950 to 2008, percentages of the numbers of affected people based on disaster types in our country were as follows: 55% for earthquake; 21% for landslide; 8% for flood and inundation; 7% for rock fall; 2% for avalanche; 4% for more than one disaster type (such as both landslide and inundation); and 3% fire, geo-medical problems, cave collapses, storm, twister, etc. The percentage distribution of the disasters in our country is as follows: 45% for landslide, 18% for earthquake, 14% for flood inundation, 10% rock fall, 2% for avalanche, 7% for multiple disasters, and 4% for other disasters. In addition, 43.75% of accommodation units (province, town centers, town, city, and villages) of our country have been exposed to at least one disaster type. In contrast, Erzurum, Bingöl, Trabzon, Rize, Tunceli, Kastamonu, Erzincan, Malatya, Artvin, and Sivas rank first in terms of disaster number, whereas Kocaeli, Bingöl, Erzurum, Sakarya, Van, Düzce, Yalova, Adana, Muş, and Diyarbakır occupy the top in terms of disaster victim number (2).