Post-Disaster Use Of Urban Parks In Settlements With High Earthquake Density: The Example Of Kültür Park

Abstract

Abstract Disasters cause many deaths, leave millions of people homeless, and lead to the loss of billions of dollars in economies every year around the world. The places most affected by disasters are city centers. According to the United Nations World Urbanization Reports, 55.3% of the world's population lives in cities. Due to their growing populations, cities nowadays are places where significant human casualties can occur during disasters. After disasters, people mostly use urban parks and open green spaces as shelter areas. Elazig's Kültür Park is one instance of an urban park that saw heavy use following a disaster. This city park has an area of 180,000 square meters. Following the 6.8-magnitude Elazig earthquake on January 24, 2020, Kültür Park served as a temporary shelter and a disaster management center. Elazig is a city where disasters are experienced intensely. The analyses have also shown that the earthquake intensity in the city is very high. The earthquake intensity analysis used calculations based on Silverman's Basic Rule Bandwidth Estimation Formula. The plan, projects, features, post-earthquake usage, and problems experienced in the use of Kültür Park, which was used as a shelter after the earthquake, were examined. The functionality of the use of the park after the earthquake and the secondary disasters that occurred in the park were investigated. The findings show that Kültür Park and other green spaces are not entirely appropriate for use after a disaster. Suggestions were developed for Kültür Park and other open green areas.