The analysis of occupant awareness in post-earthquake housing preferences: The Golcuk/Degirmendere case

As humans live in the built environment, which is a part of nature, they should induce the least damage to the natural environment. Often, difficulties are experienced in the relationship with nature. Natural events are one of these difficulties. While the disasters were due to natural events until the last century, they are the products of the human factor today. The disaster accountability awareness of construction actors and housing occupants is the most important factor for sustainability that allows urban resilience. Earthquake is a natural disaster that leads to highest destruction levels and damages within a short time on earth. The fact that the majority of Turkish lands are located on fault lines requires earthquake readiness for all settlements. Issues such as the plans and regulations, zoning status are effective on the awareness of earthquake-safe housing builders, and issues such as scale, planning and building quality are effective on the development of earthquake awareness of the occupants. The August 17, 1999 Marmara Earthquake led to serious destruction and damages especially in Gölcük, located on the epicenter of the quake. It has been determined that earthquake damage is associated with problems such as wrong location, inadequate construction system and legislation, poor material and workmanship quality, and lack of inspection. The first mistake of all is the lack of earthquake awareness among the construction actors and the occupants who purchased these houses. The present study aims to determine the problems that lead to earthquake damage and to analyze the housing patterns and occupant views before and after the earthquake. The settlements on two separate islands located on the coast and in the south, which have undergone different spatial development processes in the Değirmendere region of the Gölcük district in Kocaeli province are selected in the scope of the field study. The data obtained in the cases study through the survey are analyzed and evaluated through statistical tests. The main aim of the thesis is to examine the physical housing texture, which was altered and transformed due to the earthquake, including the structural and spatial properties. The secondary aim of the thesis is to analyze the socio-economic problems in the settlement, which included the limitations of the occupants in housing choices within the context of safe built environment with a holistic approach. The holistic physical, social and economic research problem about the earthquake phenomenon is supported with an interdisciplinary literature review based on the building-human sub-interface.