Heavy rainfall reached the country's biggest city of İstanbul, causing human losses and material damage. Districts near İstanbul Atatürk Airport are the worst affected, as big trucks can be seen buried due to heavy rainfall and floods.
Among buildings also affected by flooding are newly built ones, including the cafeteria of the Ergenekon court building in the Silivri suburb of İstanbul, prompting a temporary break in the country's biggest ever deep state trial. Professor Mikdat Kadıoğlu of İstanbul Technical University (İTÜ) has drawn attention to the fact that even newly constructed buildings have collapsed, displaying the tragicomic situation of Turkey when it comes to taking measures against natural disasters.
Most of the experts speaking to the media have blamed ill-conceived policies including urban planning that have been practiced in Turkey for the devastating impact of the floods. There have been no studies conducted over the lessons to be learned from past mistakes and disasters. This summer heavy rainfall caused floods in the Black Sea region, too.
It was last August that Turkey commemorated the 10th anniversary of the devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake that took place in the country's most developed northwestern region, killing over 20,000 people. The total population of the eight cities affected from the earthquake constitutes about 23 percent of the national population.
Reports released at the time of the commemoration revealed that almost no lessons were learned vis-à-vis taking necessary measures in the event of another serious earthquake to minimize human losses and material cost.
Turkey is located on one of the world's most serious fault lines that require well-thought-out measures to minimize its possible devastating effects. Turkey's northwestern region, known as the country's most developed region to have been hit by earthquake in 1999, is now facing serious floods.
Still as was the case during the 1999 earthquake, the Turkish state has been ineffective in the fight against such natural disasters even in the most developed regions of the country. Imagine the possibly worse effects in the event of similar natural disasters taking place in the less developed parts of Turkey.
Professor Kadıoğlu, in an interview with NTV yesterday, blamed the losses in the last floods to a rent economy in the construction sector in particular and to the shortcomings in the Public Procurement Law. In addition, it has been a very common practice for buildings and roads to be constructed over streams and swamps in Turkey, which should normally be preserved to allow rainfall to be absorbed to reduce floods.
There have been many swamps and streams that are closed and over which buildings are constructed, Professor Kadıoğlu recalled.
I remember how poorly Turkey addressed the devastating earthquake of 1999 in the northwestern region. All the telephone lines including military-produced radios were cut off, and even the helicopters of Turkey's supposedly strong armed forces were ineffective in helping the quake victims. Buildings at the Gölcük naval shipyard all collapsed at the time of the quake.
Ten years have passed since the August earthquake, but it is hard to say that serious measures have been taken to minimize the damage of any future similar disasters. The latest floods in İstanbul are yet another example of ill-conceived policies.
The scenes coming from the latest floods that have continued to have devastating effects in İstanbul and in the Thracian region as a whole display the Turkish state's shortcomings in responding to such disasters.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) warns that Turkey, which is located in the Mediterranean region, will be among the nations mostly affected from the global climate change. The WWF also warned against Turkey's existing infrastructure, which will not be able to thwart the effects of a global climate change.
The underlying problem in Turkey is the absence of an accountable and transparent system that will punish those acting illegally and those bureaucrats closing their eyes to wrongdoers.
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