Abstract:
The earthquakes have had devastating effects on the settlement areas and other acquisitions as well as the loss of lives of people; such effects have also deeply affected the political, economic and cultural structures. It is known that the privileged/basic economic feature of settlement area and the sectors attached thereto are highly damaged in terms of both human factor, production manufacturing places and plant areas in every earthquake. Ayvalik and its surroundings are in the first-degree seismic zone on the Western Anatolia and North-West fault line. Therefore, both before the Republican Period (1865, 1867, 1901, 1919) and after the proclamation of the Republic, many earthquakes happened in the region; Ayvalik county suffered greatly from these earthquakes and its development and progress were affected negatively. In the earthquake of 1944, all savings of the people, who had solved the problems concerning the Population Exchange in 1934 and are of Ayvalik origin, were lost all at once again. Also with the influence of the war years, the people could not build new buildings and settle in them. Many people left Ayvalik permanently for this reason and migrated to the other places. While the olive yards sold by those people who migrated were bought by certain people, the transformation in the economic structure caused significant changes also in the social and political structure. Earthquakes restructure the nature by eliminating its invisible gaps. It also creates a social earthquake effect, which gives new forms to the all beings living on this new structuring, especially to the human beings. In this study, the earthquake of 1944, which affected Ayvalik and its surroundings highly, will be tackled with all its aspects and its effects on the progress of the county will be presented. © 2016, Hacettepe University. All rights reserved.