Istanbul Tragedy

[Lantana]

The weather may have been gloomy in Kalkan for the past 24 hours but in Istanbul today over 30 people lost their lives in terrible floods which swept through parts of the city early this morning after the worst rainfall in a hundred years.

Watching the scenes of death and destruction on Turkish news this evening was heartbreaking. The damage is unbelievable and it is feared that the death toll will rise considerably.

This rather puts everything else in perspective . Almost all those killed were on their way to work and trapped in buses and cars which were swept away by floods as much as 6 metres deep.

Lantana

Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=4339.0

[Blue Lizard]

As you say..thats terrible,Istanbul seems to have more than it's fair share of bad news. i remember the sadness after the earthquake,,,such a great city

[misty]

Terrible news, I've seen no coverage of this tragedy on UK news channels.

[anne41]

So sad to here of all those deaths - my prayers are with all those involved - never heard a thing about it in our news - Why?

[jinfizzz]

Check out
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8245699.stm

Really upsetting and due to go to Istanbul in 10 days time. 

[Reygirl]

My neighbour told me about this - she said it was on the 6 o'clock news (UK) so there was some coverage.  Photos on BBC website show some of the devastation. Only a couple of summers ago that the tailor's wife in Kalkan was showing me photos of floods in the UK in her local newspaper.  The world is becoming a very unpredictable place.

[Lantana]

This quote below about the events today in Istanbul is from Huriyet, a respected national newspaper. A warning for us all in Kalkan as we wonder what damage the winter floods will do  again here this year.

lantana

'Experts believe the flood hit Istanbul the hardest because of the city’s unplanned and rapid urbanization and because of builders’ and city officials’ disregard for nature. Mücella Yapıcı, an architect from the Chamber of Architects' Istanbul branch, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review that this disaster reveals the truth about how much of the land is occupied and harmed in Istanbul.

“Rainfall enters water basins through streams and goes underground, and some of it evaporates normally,” Yapıcı said. “But in Istanbul, water tries to find a way to move over and under the ground, but can’t because all of the ground is poured concrete.”

[kalkan4eva]

This is a very valid point, Lantana. Damage to cardiac hill and the roadways into town are nothing in comparison to the loss of life, but with the massive development in many parts of Turkey you have to hope and pray that this dreadful incident is an isolated case.
This terrible tragedy in Istanbul was reported on the ITV late news and should also be available online for those that missed the coverage - it was shocking to watch.
Our hearts go out to the families of those who have lost loved ones and we can only pray the bad weather there subsides soon and no more lives are lost.

[tonik]

Here in the UK the Aljazeera news channel is a good source of information and is covering the floods in Istanbul.

[alisonh]

Thankyou Lantana, a real tragedy.  I know that some of the restaurant staff in Kalkan travel down from Istanbul for the summer season, they must have been really worried about family and friends and I do hope they are all ok.

[misty]

Found a very small article with one photo in a national paper today....puzzled by the lack of coverage in the UK. 

[tog miester]

Tragic though it is for Turkey, its probably way down the list for the UK press. They like larger misery/death stories. Lets face it theres a lot out there. Or they will write about the plucky English bloke who got kicked out from somewhere for being a prat!!!

[tog miester]

But on a more serious and rather disgusting note, have you heard of the looting that went on whilst bodies were still being found. People were actually waist deep in water, 'collecting' goods that had been washed out of trucks. Not very nice. Wonder if they will show that on Turkish TV.

[kim21]

 The Belidye announced around 7pm today that a storm is expected in kalkan tonight, I doubt it will be on the same scale as Istanbul, but best get your sunloungers covers in tonight.

[Enişte]

The flooding was certainly reported on UK TV as my father rang me to check on our in-laws from Istanbul, who luckily live and work on the Asian side and high up, so have not been involved other than professionally, my sister-in-law being an emergency doctor.

Some of yesterday's TRT coverage showed 2 men trying to shift polysterene boxes from an almost submerged lorry.  I very much hope there was an innocent reason for this, but it's a sad fact of life, anywhere in the world, that people will sometimes take advantage of tragic and difficult situations for personal gain.  I hope that the area recovers as quickly as possible and that those that have lost loved ones can gradually begin to do so too.

My attention was more drawn to the story of the 'brave' journalist whose rescue in Afghanistan cost several lives, including a British soldier.  The journo was allegedly kidnapped there while writing a story criticising the allied forces for attacks that had caused civilian deaths and it is believed that he had had to be rescued from a similar situation in Iraq.  A tragic waste of life over a tragic waste of space.