Plane trees underwater since Marmara earthquake spotted

KOCAELİ

The plane trees that were submerged in water in Kocaeli’s Gölcük district during the Aug. 17, 1999, Marmara earthquake have been photographed.

Underwater photographer and documentary producer Tahsin Ceylan and Murat Kulakaç, the founding president of the Değirmendere Underwater Community, dived into the area of Çınarlık Square, which was pulled into the sea due to the fault line passing through the Değirmendere neighborhood of Gölcük, the epicenter of the earthquake.

During the dive, it was observed that some plane trees, located approximately 50 meters offshore, remained upright despite the number of years passed, and their trunks were yellow.

Ceylan stated that some of the trees in Çınarlık Square were left underwater during the earthquake disaster and that before the earthquake, the area up to 100 meters below the coastline was a residential zone.

Noting that the plane trees remained underwater after the earthquake, Ceylan said, “We are at the place where the earthquake has a memory. The number of plane trees in the depths is countless. We dived into the earthquake’s memory in 4-degree Celsius water. If people who want to confront the earthquake come and see the plane trees underwater here, it would probably be enough. There are enormous plane trees there. The trunk thicknesses of the plane trees underwater are now unmatched by any tree on the shoreline. The area behind us was once a place where people sat, drank tea, and watched matches, but now it is all underwater. We must learn to face the earthquake and live with the reality of earthquakes.”

Kulakaç also stated that the full reality of the earthquake lies underwater and that the plane trees here reveal the face of the earthquake.