Support Needs of the Survivors of the August 17, 1999 Earthquake in Turkey

This paper aims to present a sociological analysis of social supportrelated to disaster sociology in general and earthquakes specifically.The analysis is based on field research conducted a year after the17 August 1999 East Marmara Earthquake where 18000 people died;50000 people injured; 5000 buildings collapsed and 340000 of themdamaged; 14513 businesses closed; 150000 people became unemployed;and 129338 forced to live in prefabricated houses. The researchprimarily aims to understand the support needs by focusing mainlyon the following issues about the earthquake survivors: (i) whichand what support types and areas are mostly desired by them; (ii)which independent variables are the most effective on their demands;and (iii) from which persons or institutions they have receivedsupport and wanted to be supported by. Marginal development of thecivil society; high degree of expectations of almost everythingfrom the state; psychological factors being less influentialcompared with West and education being the primary influentialfactor are some of the significant results of this research.