A panel on “Earthquake and Solidarity” was held within the scope of Horeca Fair, Food Fair and Pack Fair fairs hosted by İzmir Metropolitan Municipality. Saying that the importance of rural life should be better understood after the earthquake, Köy-Koop İzmir Union President Neptün Soyer said, “We have to be in harmony with nature. Not all the villages were destroyed in the earthquake, but there was great destruction in the city centers. We have to learn from this,” he said.
hosted by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality; Organized by GL Platform, HORECA Fair, Pack Fair Turkey and Food Fair Turkey started in Fair İzmir. A panel on “Earthquake and Solidarity” was held within the scope of the fairs that will continue until 9 March. In the panel moderated by Mehmet Ali Kasalı, İzmir Economic Development Board Chairman and BASİFED Chairman of the Board, Village Koop İzmir Union President Neptün Soyer, Chamber of Food Engineers İzmir Branch President Uğur Toprak, İzmir Cooks Association representative and Aegean Rotary Club Disaster Doors Committee Member Osman Atak took part. took.
Neptune Soyer: “Lessons must be learned”
Village-Koop İzmir Union President Neptün Soyer pointed out that the villages in the disaster area were less damaged than the cities and said, “We visited the villages of Osmaniye, water is flowing there. Not all villages were destroyed, but there were major destructions in the centers of 11 provinces. We lost a lot of lives, we were hurt a lot. Villages were not like that, because they are areas that can lead a life in harmony with nature. Villages have survived with their houses in harmony with nature, their agriculture and water. When we go to the village from the cities where there is no light sohbet There were village coffees that we could make. Cities are so individualized… Lessons should be learned from this,” he said.
“We will be back again”
Saying that they went to the Village Institute in Osmaniye, Neptün Soyer said, “Village Institutes are one sentence of the 100-year-old story of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Düziçi Village Institute is still standing. You will cover all of them and tell us about 12-storey buildings as a beautiful thing. We have lost a lot of lives, we are hurting a lot. Therefore, we will go back to the beginning, we can go back, we can get this country back on its feet. Do we understand that we shouldn't make whole villages neighborhoods? We understood… We understood that the villages must live again. We have to be in harmony with nature. We have to make a transformation in the countryside as well,” he said.
“All of Izmir was there, all of Turkey came”
Criticizing the lack of coordination after the earthquake, Neptün Soyer said, “There are 3 fragile issues; women, children, the disabled, and of course, this includes the elderly. They are the most vulnerable sections of societies. This vulnerability becomes even more evident in disasters. On this occasion, I would like to express that on the occasion of March 8, International Women's Day, we need to make our voices louder on these issues and work harder for an equal and fair society. On the third day of the Izmir earthquake, there were laundries in all tent areas. One Rent One Home had already started, after a month no one was in the tent. All of Izmir was there, all of Turkey came and we didn't say why you came," he said.
Toprak: “Nutrition started after the sixth day”
Saying that they were in the region after the earthquake, Ugur Toprak, Head of the Izmir Branch of the Chamber of Food Engineers, said, "Our normalization is of no value before they become normal. We need to continue knowing that Turkey's most important agenda is the earthquake and that it should not fall off the agenda. There were great omissions. It has come before all of us with the negligence of the century, which they call the disaster of the century. Solidarity is very important, we have always shown this solidarity as a nation. We worked on the need to ensure food safety. As the Chamber of Food Engineers, we have determined our criteria so that the citizens can have a healthy and adequate nutrition, and that the food that goes there is suitable, and we have conveyed them everywhere.”
Atak: “We reached the area on the third day”
İzmir Cooks Association representative and Aegean Rotary Club Disaster Doors Committee Member Osman Atak said, “We reached the area on the third day. We set up a tent city in the place allocated to us. The biggest thing about non-governmental organizations is that they can act flexibly and quickly, independent of the bureaucracy, even if to some extent, according to the state. Unfortunately, we have seen the clumsiness of the state's bureaucracy. One of the things we don't do is education. You have to be prepared. "With a little training, people will understand that they need to coordinate," he said.