‘TOKİ, municipality responsible for flood’
SAMSUN - Hürriyet
The work is continuing to clean the flooded housing zone in the Black Sea province of Samsun, which has been home to 12 deaths in a flood last week. DHA photo
The Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) City Planners branch has revealed a report on the flood in the Black Sea province of Samsun, saying that responsibility for the disaster lies not with nature but with the Housing and Waterworks administrations, as well as the Municipality.The report said the area where the flood took place was a filled zone that was created by changing the direction of a river.
“The fact that the river’s direction was changed and that the previous location was opened to a housing zone were the major planning mistakes in the disaster,” the report said.
The ground floor of many homes built by the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ) were flooded in the disaster, causing 12 deaths.
The TOKİ buildings were located between two branches of the Mert River, which flooded the ground floors causing deaths and injuries, according to reports.
The report put the blame on TOKİ, the State Waterworks Authority (DSİ), and the Samsun Municipality for allowing the project.
TOKİ had blamed weather conditions, “which poured more rain than calculated,” for the damage, while the Minister of Urban Planning and Environment Erdoğan Bayraktar said he “does not think TOKİ is at fault.”
