Anxiety, Anticipation and Housing Crisis in Istanbul

In 1999, after two separate earthquakes in the Marmara region that killed 18,000 people, scientists agreed that a major earthquake was expected on the same fault line but further west, exactly in the region of Istanbul, within 30 years. Over the past 24 years, Istanbul residents have anticipated an earthquake, and this fear became all too real for Istanbulites with the Maraş earthquakes in February 2023, claiming over 50,000 lives. This chapter aims to illustrate how the Maraş earthquakes, which occurred more than 1000 kilometers away from Istanbul on a different fault line, have exacerbated the housing problem in Istanbul, pushing it to a new level and igniting movement among Istanbulites, both within the city and beyond. It is not the disaster itself but the anticipation of it, veiled in uncertainty and risk, that has generated anxious citizens who are determined to shape their destinies before the earthquake strikes the city. The research is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Istanbul, interviewing individuals expressing earthquake and housing-related anxieties, observing their actions, and categorizing them into three groups: residents testing apartment resilience, those relocating within Istanbul, and those leaving the city entirely.