Istanbul at a glance:
Istanbul, located in the Marmara region of Türkiye, is a megacity of around 16 million people and one of the world’s most complex urban environments. Spanning both Europe and Asia and divided by the Bosphorus Strait, the city covers approximately 5,343 km² and features a hilly landscape with coastal plains along the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus, as well as key waterways such as the Golden Horn. Istanbul has a Mediterranean climate, with hot, humid summers and mild, rainy winters. Critically, the city lies close to the North Anatolian Fault, placing it at high risk of major earthquakes. Combined with its dense population, complex infrastructure, and rapid urbanisation, this high exposure to multiple natural hazards makes Istanbul one of the world’s highest-risk urban areas and a key pilot site for advancing disaster risk management and risk-reduction strategies in Türkiye.
Key challenges:
- High multi-hazard risk profile, with significant seismic exposure alongside increasing climate-related risks, particularly urban flooding from extreme rainfall.
- Evolving exposure and vulnerability, driven by rapid urbanisation, high population density, ageing building stock, and limited integration of risk awareness into urban planning and public preparedness.
- Institutional fragmentation and resource constraints, characterised by overlapping disaster risk management mandates, limited data sharing, and insufficient financing for preventive risk reduction measures.
The TOGETHER Way Forward:
- Develop inclusive disaster planning to strengthen resilience to seismic and climate risks by ensuring the systematic inclusion of vulnerable groups in preparedness, response, and evacuation planning.
- Improve risk communication to deliver harmonised, clear, and reliable messages to the public, supporting informed decision-making before, during, and after emergencies.
- Strengthen coordination and cooperation to reduce institutional fragmentation through enhanced multi-stakeholder coordination in Istanbul and increased knowledge exchange with European partners.
Stakeholders involved:
- RS lead: Turkish Red Cross
- Partners: Local disaster management authority, Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, University, Policy maker, National observatory, Funding body