This case study belongs to a compendium of good practices and success stories in disaster risk reduction shared during the 2025 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2025). These stories reflect the real-world progress being made by governments, communities, and organizations around the world to reduce risk and build resilience.
When devastating earthquakes struck Türkiye on February 6, 2023, the nation’s investment in school safety was put to the ultimate test. In the 11 affected provinces, only 60 out of 15,799 school buildings sustained damage—a remarkable outcome credited to decades of work strengthening infrastructure and raising preparedness.
Türkiye’s seismic building codes, introduced in 1998 and updated in 2007 and 2019, have ensured new schools are built to withstand powerful tremors. The “Disaster-Ready School” campaign, launched in 2013, accelerated progress: over 10,500 classrooms have been built to modern standards, with nearly 6,000 more under construction.
Preparedness is not just about infrastructure but also about informed communities. Nationwide disaster awareness training now reaches all 140,000 schools, embedding safety knowledge into daily life. In Istanbul, the ISMEP project, active since 2006, has retrofitted 1,390 schools, safeguarding hundreds of thousands of students.
Türkiye is also looking beyond its borders, partnering through the EU-supported “Earthquake-Resilient Schools” project to share lessons and strengthen resilience internationally.
The 2023 earthquakes proved that foresight, strong policies, and continuous investment can turn schools into safe havens—protecting both children and the communities they serve.
Source: Shared at the Ministerial Roundtable on School Safety by the Republic of Türkiye.