Earthquakes and Women
March 08, 2023
GTU discusses the impacts of earthquakes on women on 8th March International Women's Day
As it is known, Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes deeply shook the whole country. Even today, we still feel the impacts of the earthquakes everywhere, and this situation affects women more deeply. With this awareness, on International Women's Day on March 8th, the Women and Family Studies Application and Research Center (KUAM) at Gebze Technical University organized a seminar on the topic "Earthquakes and Women." GTU Rector Prof. Dr. Hacı Ali Mantar and Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Işıl Kurnaz also attended the seminar, which was held in the GTU's Faculty of Engineering Dean's Meeting Room in hybrid format.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Ülgen Mert-Tuğsal from the Department of Civil Engineering at GTU delivered a presentation to the participants on the role of women in disaster management. Mert-Tuğsal, who also shared her field experiences, stated that women were actively working in all areas to erase the traces of the earthquake.
As a female seismologist, Asst. Prof. Dr. Ahu Kömeç-Mutlu from the Department of Civil Engineering at GTU tried to clarify the confusion about earthquakes by answering questions such as what an earthquake is, how it occurs, the differences between magnitude and intensity, and how earthquakes are measured. She also evaluated the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes from all their scientific aspects and shared her field experiences.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Hande Barlın from the Department of Economics at GTU shared the experiences of women in the earthquake region through disadvantaged groups. Barlın shared the experiences of women living in earthquake zones, particularly focusing on Romani women, one of the disadvantaged groups in Turkey. While evaluating the changing lives of the Romani women living in Adıyaman, Urfa, Kahramanmaraş, and Gaziantep following the earthquake, Barlın focused on issues related to security, privacy, shelter, food and drink, and laundry and dishes, directly associated with women by the society. She also addressed the psychological aspects of the situation, where all the responsibility for childcare and elderly care falls on women in relation with gender roles. Barlın highlighted the unifying and inclusive aspect of women, even in such a disaster, by introducing the experiences of Roman women with photos and videos from the earthquake region. Finally, Barlın shared the experiences of women who had to leave their homes after the earthquake and exemplified this situation with the migration story of a Romani family that ended up in a one-room house in Istanbul's Fatih district. She stated that women shut themselves psychologically and became silent in such uncertain situations.
GTU Rector Prof. Dr. Hacı Ali Mantar made the closing speech of the seminar, emphasizing the effective and inclusive role of women in all fields. Mantar stated that women were the ones who reacted the fastest during the university's transfer to the earthquake zone and the aid it provided to the region. While drawing attention to the difficulties faced by women in the earthquake zone, Mantar said that women had more responsibility in all areas and yet achieved very difficult tasks. Prof. Mantar concluded his speech by thanking the female academics who shared the experiences of women from earthquake-prone areas with the participants.
