Recent Türkiye Earthquake Creates Tension In Testing Urban Planning Approaches - UN

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 20. The recent earthquake in Türkiye has created tension in testing urban planning approaches, UN resident coordinator in the country, Babatunde Ahonsi, said during a conference titled "Strengthening Urban Earthquake Preparedness ONE UN Solutions for Safer and More Resilient Cities" held within the framework of the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, Trend reports.

"The earthquake has created a deep, system-wide tension, testing our development models, global health systems, and urban planning approaches," he explained.

According to him, the recent earthquake in Turkey has revealed the scale of physical vulnerability in cities.

"But within this great tragedy lies a significant opportunity. It's an opportunity to transform the recovery process into a forward-looking agenda towards resilience, sustainable development and inclusion. This approach is crucial not only for protecting people, assets and economic activity, but also for reducing inequalities and exposure to various risks. This is why urban resilience must be at the heart of both national recovery strategies and global processes such as COP31.

Experience shows that urban resilience is not an expense. On the contrary, it is one of the most strategic and cost-effective investments that can be made for sustainable development. Civil society, academia, the private sector and, in particular, the affected communities themselves must be involved as active co-founders of the recovery process. Of course, the UN's integrated approach also plays an important role here.

As a United Nations country team, we are also trying to implement this approach in practical terms in the recovery efforts by creating innovative coordination mechanisms in the affected regions," he noted.

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