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Turkey kicks off anti-flood campaign
The decision was made after last week's flood disaster in İstanbul and Tekirdağ which caused at least 40 deaths and millions of dollars in damage. Eroğlu said that as part of the campaign they will rehabilitate all watercourses if and when municipalities prepare for it. He added that the campaign's budget has not yet been determined.
Eroğlu underlined that when he was the general director of the State Waterworks Authority (DSİ) in 2006, they issued a regulation restricting watercourse-adjacent construction in order to prevent floods, pointing out that DSİ renewed the same regulation one month ago.
The minister reiterated that if municipalities do not pay attention to construction regulations on and around watercourses, the central administration doesn't have much it can do:
“We provide warnings of expected rainfall to the municipalities. We also emphasize the importance of abiding by construction regulations. What we are facing now is the accumulation of years. If the municipalities give us permission to improve the watercourses, we have the ability and the means to rehabilitate them,” he said.
Eroğlu said that over the last 20 years, there were 369 floods in Turkey, which cost 443 lives and almost $2.1 billion. “The main reason for them is uncontrolled urbanization more than hydro-meteorological events,” he said.
Eroğlu added that if citizens, civil society and municipalities take more responsibility this problem can be solved. He said that as part of the anti-flood mobilization campaign, they will reconsider every watercourse's situation and devise projects for their rehabilitation. He added that as a preventive move they will speed up reforestation efforts and other measures to prevent erosion.
He added that the government plans to remap and resurvey watercourse areas, determining land ownership in and around them, prepare projects and implement them according to their priority and if it is necessary to prepare work for the exercise of eminent domain.
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