Istanbul: earthquakes after political upheaval
Istanbul was shaken by a series of earthquakes last week which caused damage to some 1,025 buildings, and there are fears that the Turkish metropolis with its population of around 16 million could be hit by a stronger earthquake any time now. The city's mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and many of those in key positions of responsibility are currently behind bars. The national press assesses the situation.
Arrests instead of crisis management
Instead of joining forces with the municipal authorities to prepare for major earthquakes the government is arresting those in responsible for such preparations, Cumhuriyet complains:
“At a time when we need a common strategy, solidarity and joint action more than ever in the face of potential earthquake risks, the president and his ministers hold a meeting about earthquakes in Istanbul to which the city's elected deputy mayor wasn't even invited. Important urban planners working for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality are in prison. And as if that weren't bad enough, in a second wave of operations yesterday even the spouses of those arrested were detained.”
Lining their pockets at the expense of safety?
The prisoners had other things to do than prepare Istanbul for earthquakes, counters the pro-government newspaper Akşam:
“What did those who are now behind bars actually do? They resisted urban renewal. ... Municipal budgets spent on advertising instead of urban regeneration. What does this mean? They lined their pockets instead. ... Anyone who doesn't believe this should ask themselves the following question: How many buildings in danger of collapsing have these people demolished with their billions of lira, and how many stable buildings have they built? - And if they haven't built any, what did they spend this money on?”
Develop disaster relief from the bottom up
After Istanbul's mobile phone networks collapsed during the earthquake, columnist Füsun Sarp Nebil calls in T24 for citizens to create their own networks:
“If the AKP government does not care about our access to communication during earthquakes, then we as a people must ensure it ourselves. Radio systems are a key means of communication not only during earthquakes, but also during disasters and in times of war. We should make these tools more widely available. And we need to establish a culture of preparedness. Neighbourhood volunteers are very important. ... Many more people should join these groups. They explain useful topics like emergency responses.”