Heavy floods and landslides triggered by torrential rains in the Black Sea province of Arvin\u00a0have devastated the town of Hopa.<\/p>\n
Turkey is prone to natural disasters and after earthquakes, floods cause the second biggest damage in terms of losses in human life and destruction.<\/p>\n
The Black Sea region with its intense rainfalls is one of the most vulnerable areas. Over centuries, its resilient people adapted their life styles to cope with the challenges of their difficult environment.<\/p>\n
Global climate change is making extreme rainfall events more common in the Black Sea but it is manmade distortions in hydrological systems and unabated construction on floodplains and coastal areas that\u2019s is disturbing the delicate balance.<\/p>\n
A lack of prevention and preparedness to natural disasters are very apparent. Every flash flood leaves a trail of death and devastation along the Black Sea coast.<\/p>\n
Inadequate management of flood risks has been a recurrent theme in in Turkey. However, in recent years, coverage of impervious surfaces, unplanned construction of residential and commercial buildings and development in known flood risk areas have become much more widespread. Clientelism and bigger rent-seeking tendencies come with an excessive complacency towards the environment.<\/p>\n
Objections raised by the environmentalists have been largely ignored.\u00a0There have been serious warnings<\/a> from organisations such as The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects<\/a> and The Chamber of Environmental Engineers of Turkey concerning hydroelectric power plants, construction activities in the flood zones, proposed changes to river channels and endless road building projects along the coastline. All have been overlooked. Protests by local people have been silenced, often with brute force. Hopa, the scene of devastation by the recent flood, was the place where the tear-gas use by the police caused the death of a demonstrator concerned about hydroelectric power plants in 2011.<\/p>\n A year later, in 2012, a dozen people lost their lives in the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOK\u0130) built houses in another Black Sea town of Samsun,<\/em><\/strong> which also suffered a flood.<\/p>\n None of this stirred the authorities yet Monday\u2019s scenes of destruction and loss of human lives in Hopa should be a wake-up call.<\/p>\n