At least 14 people are killed in Turkey seismic zone flash floods
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Roshan Amiri
- . March 16, 2023
- . Update: March 16, 2023 5:31 pm
In Turkey’s earthquake-affected region, flash floods on Wednesday claimed the lives of at least 14 people who were living in tents and shipping containers, adding to the pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before crucial elections.
According to officials, many people were lost in the raging flood that turned roadways into muddy rivers in the districts affected by last month’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake.
The disaster on February 6 killed more than 48,000 people in Turkey and about 6,000 in Syria, making it the deadliest incident in the area in recent times.
Tents and container homes have been erected for hundreds of thousands of Turkish earthquake survivors throughout the disaster area, which includes 11 provinces in the southeast of Turkey.
The weather service predicted that the area would experience torrential rain through late Wednesday.
Twelve people were reportedly killed by floods in Sanliurfa, Turkey, which is 50 kilometres north of the Syrian border.
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A one-year-old and another person perished in nearby Adiyaman, where five others are still missing. Pictures showed the water engulfing temporary homes built for earthquake victims and carrying away cars.
In one popular video, a man wearing a beige suit and tie calls out for assistance as he floats down a fast-moving stream next to some furniture. His fate is still a mystery.
In other pictures, individuals could be seen using rope and branches to pull victims out of the river. One of the biggest hospitals in the area’s ground floor was also affected by the flooding, according to the Sanliurfa governor’s office.
Erdogan is facing a fierce public backlash over his government’s bungled response to the largest natural disaster of his two-decade rule as he prepares to run for reelection on May 14.
Erdogan has made multiple public apologies while reiterating that no country could have responded to the crisis in a timely manner.
Erdogan has been traveling the area over the past three weeks, visiting with survivors, and making promises to reconstruct the entire region within a year.
Erdogan announced in a parliamentary speech on Wednesday that his government will construct 319,000 homes by the end of the year.
“We have a promise to our nation to repair the cities destroyed by the earthquake within a year,” he continued, in addition to the search and rescue, emergency aid, and temporary shelter we have so far supplied.
In order to direct the government’s response, Erdogan sent his interior minister to the area that had been inundated.
