Prof. Dr. Ömür Bakırer Armağanı, Neriman Şahin Güçhan,Ali Uzay Peker, Editör, ODTÜ Basım İşliği, Ankara, ss.221-244, 2021
One of the most significant factors that threaten historic settlements and
cultural assets is climate change and natural events, frequency and intensity
of which have been accelerating. Preventive conservation, prevention,
mitigation and disaster risk management are subjects that have been discussed
at international level especially in the last 30 years. Awareness of the significance of disaster
risk management of cultural heritage has grown due to the efforts, studies and
publications of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), the International Centre for the Study of the
Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), International
Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the International Council of Museums (ICOM)
and other international organizations. Increasing the resilience of cultural
assets and historic settlements through ‘preparedness’ activities and securing
their recovery in case of destruction is essential to preserve their economic,
and social functionality and to transmit their values to new generations.
Turkey’s cultural heritage is threatened by natural hazards like
earthquake, flood, avalanche, storm and rockfall. However, there are not
policies on prevention and mitigation of the negative impacts of these hazards
on cultural assets. Protecting cultural heritage from disasters is a
significant issue that should be taken into account in both disaster risk
management and cultural heritage conservation processes in Turkey, and that
requires collaboration among all related stakeholders. Risk management policies
should aim for protecting all categories of cultural assets, including movable,
immovable, tangible and intangible, from the impacts of natural hazards. Within
the context of these policies, developing disaster risk management law for
safeguarding cultural heritage from disasters, developing capacities of related
institutions, collaboration with related stakeholders, the preparation and
implementation of disaster risk management plans that are based on information
and analyses are important topics to be considered.