Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) President Ekrem İmamoğlu and Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Lütfü Savaş made statements after the coordination meeting held to determine the roadmap for the city, which was destroyed by 3 earthquakes, to stand up again. The coordination meeting attended by mayors, deputies, municipal bureaucrats and the following statements were held at the Disaster Coordination Center of IMM, located on 35 decares of land in Antakya.
"As long as; We looked at a strategy that would be summarized as 'first week', 'first month' and 'first year'”
Pointing out that there was a lot of pain during and after the earthquakes, İmamoğlu said, “But I would like to remind you that this is a breaking moment. I remind you that we must put forward the struggle to create a completely different new beginning in these regions, in these regions, in our 10 cities at once.”
Reminding that they were matched with Hatay by AFAD after the earthquake, İmamoğlu presented a detailed breakdown of their contributions to the city in the 18-day period.
As long as; Stating that they look at a strategy that can be summarized as “first week”, “first month” and “first year”, İmamoğlu said, “During the first weeks, we carried out an intense logistics mobilization of our teams, and especially a very large aid mobilization from Istanbul. With the power and support of Istanbul, we stood by our disaster victims, our precious friends and fellow countrymen. We have tried to touch every point in the 17-18 days we have left behind and we will continue to do so.”
“We will continue to manage the process”
Imamoglu, for the first 1-month period; Emphasizing that they focus on shelter services, urban cleaning, nutritional support, combating winter conditions, first aid activities, water and sewerage services, natural gas services, infrastructure and survey works, he said:
“We have also developed a management model in order to do these things quickly and effectively and to organize the necessary cooperation of the business. In this management model, the main coordination and institution that we face is our Hatay Metropolitan Municipality and its esteemed president is Lütfü Savaş. In the first place, we coordinate the contributions made here with over 130 municipalities. We will continue to manage the process here by identifying its functions and problems in the field, in a permanent and sustainable manner, with its new needs and support.”
“The most important need is tent”
Pointing out that tents are the most important need in the region as of now, İmamoğlu said:
“We will make an intense effort to meet the tent needs through cooperation. We have either distributed or set up nearly 4 tents so far, or we will continue to distribute them in our warehouse. I would like to express that the number of tents has reached almost 500 thousand, especially with all our municipalities. We also carry out container installations. We put nearly 16 containers into service in our region.”
“We work in coordination with local actors”
Imamoglu; He also shared information about city cleaning, funeral services, İSKİ and İGDAŞ's work in Hatay, and conveyed the services provided by Orhangazi and Osmangazi ferries.
Stating that they carry out all their work in coordination with Hatay Metropolitan Municipality, district municipalities, 593 neighborhood headmen and local actors, İmamoğlu said, “All our colleagues, our colleagues in all institutions and organizations that come here, each of them do better, more beautiful, more beneficial with a sense of brotherhood and solidarity. trying to do. From the Ministry of Urban Planning to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, from AFAD to other issues, all institutions are authorized. But we, as IMM, will continue to strive to contribute to all our cities, especially Hatay, with our competent staff.” said.
“We couldn't learn from 1999”
Imamoglu, claiming that some lessons have not been learned since the 1999 earthquake, said:
“We observe that we continue to make some mistakes, even that some of the right things are not done, instead mistakes are made. I would like to express that we have not learned lessons and that we have a lot of shortcomings and it is imperative that they be corrected. We have to save our country from this disease. We are experiencing a breaking moment. It is imperative that our destiny is well knitted by knowing the value of common mind, cooperation and expertise. Otherwise, we will continue to relive the pain we experience today, from generation to generation.”
Draws attention to the danger of asbestos
Pointing out that one of the most important problems in Hatay is the debris issue, İmamoğlu said, “It is clear that out of 158 thousand independent units, 124 thousand independent units are in ruins, heavily damaged and in need of urgent demolition. This means it reaches a debris level of around 18 million cubic meters. When we think that a truck carries about 18 tons, exactly 1 million times the wreckage work will be done around this city.
Emphasizing that some of the debris to be transported contains asbestos, İmamoğlu pointed out that this is an important environmental threat.
Saying, “For the temporary recovery of 18 million tons of rubble, an area of 2,5 meters high and 4 square kilometers wide is needed,” İmamoğlu said, “We are talking about the size of 4 football fields. In order to minimize this and to contribute to the financing of construction activities, it is essential to ensure segregation and implement a recycling model. The selection of storage areas in areas that are far from the city center and human settlements and that are outside of critical areas in terms of production and environment such as agricultural areas, wetlands, meadows, pastures, streams and stream beds is a very important issue. he said.
“We must be managers who continue to take note of the demands, requests and suggestions of the citizens”
Stating that it is essential for the local dynamics of Hatay and all cities affected by the earthquake to be involved in the rebuilding process, İmamoğlu said, “It is imperative that these cities evolve into a form of manufacturing in which a visionary future is designed and a return from mistakes made. If the administrators started to take notes in order to tag, threaten and punish those who speak the truth and those who criticize them, it means that the paths of the administrators and the citizens have separated. We have to be managers who walk towards the same goal and on the same path as our citizens under all circumstances.” used his statements.
“We are putting forth an intense effort on behalf of the people of Istanbul”
Emphasizing that the state and all institutions and organizations are owned by the nation, İmamoğlu ended his speech with the following words:
“Nations become nations in times like these. I believe that what we are experiencing today will lead to a very strong integration between the nation and the state in these lands, will remove some obstacles and destroy some evils. As IMM, we are putting forth an intense effort here on behalf of the people of Istanbul. We have immigration problems ahead of us. We have problems with education before us. We will talk about these separately. Our university students are being expelled from their schools. We strongly oppose this. We definitely want this wrong to be reversed and we insist. All these agendas will continue. I hope that this breaking moment will turn into a very careful new beginning for this beautiful geography of our country.”
Savaş: “The number of our casualties is around 22 thousand”
Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Lütfü Savaş thanked all institutions, organizations and individuals who were with them in the earthquake disaster, especially IMM, and said:
“Even though the base of the earthquake is Kahramanmaraş, Ova, Antakya, Defne, Samandağ, Kırıkhan, İskenderun and Arsuz regions experienced the most impact from our airport. And we lost a lot of our people while we were going through this. Probably our missing number is around 22 thousand at the moment. Unfortunately, we have more than 30 thousand people injured in the earthquake. And we still have people waiting to be dug out of the rubble. We lost a lot of our people. But we saw that humanity was not lost. And they are our biggest pillar in the next process.”
“We are a nation that has survived many hardships, but”
Expressing that they are trying to do what is expected of them, President Savaş said, “It has been 18 days today. We are a nation that has survived many hardships. And we are a nation that knows how to be a ball in very troubled days. But when we relax, we are a nation that does not fail to tear each other's eyes off. It is unity day now, but this unity must continue. As Ekrem Bey has stated, we really shouldn't be doing this job by saying, 'We'll get 3 more votes in 3 days'." he said.