Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Nuclear Energy
Despite Turkey's seismic vulnerabilities, three nuclear power plants are planned, with the aim of aiding economic
growth and reducing dependency on natural gas supplies from Russia and Iran. Construction is set to begin in 2013
at Akkuyu on the eastern Mediterranean coast, a controversial site 25km from a seismic fault line. Another proposed
location is the Black Sea town of Sinop.
Earthquake Danger
At least three active earthquake fault lines run through Turkey - the North Anatolian, East
Anatolian and Aegean - and the country has recorded more than 25 major earthquakes,
measuring up to 7.8 on the Richter scale, since 1939.
In 1999 a 7.6-magnitude quake hit İzmit (Kocaeli) and Adapazarı (Sakarya) in north-
western Anatolia, killing more than 18,000 people. A 7.1-magnitude earthquake shook the
Van area in 2011, killing more than 600, injuring over 4000 and causing massive structur-
al damage, with some 60,000 locals left homeless.
If a major quake struck İstanbul, it is believed much of the city would be devastated,
due to unlicensed, jerry-built construction.
Environmental
Issues
Balancing environmental management with rap-
id economic growth and urbanisation is a major
challenge for Turkey. To date the environment
has fallen a long way down its list of priorities,
but there are glimmers of improvement, largely
due to the country's desire to join the EU.
The government aims to harmonise all envir-
onmental legislation with the EU, and the
European Commission reported in 2011 that
Turkey had made good progress on waste man-
agement. However, it reported limited progress in areas including air and water quality,
National Parks
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