Rakesh kumar
The earthquake and aftershocks on February 6 damaged at least 156,000 structures.
After the deadliest earthquake in modern Turkish history, the country must dispose of hundreds of millions of tonnes of potentially hazardous debris.
The February 6 earthquake and aftershocks caused at least 156,000 buildings to collapse or become so severely damaged that they must be demolished, according to Turkish authorities. Entire sections of cities were reduced to fractured concrete and steel.
The UN Development Program (UNDP) estimates that the resulting 116- 210 million tonnes of rubble would cover an area of 100 square kilometres (40 square miles) if piled 1 metre high. Approximately the size of Barcelona.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who is likely to face an election on 14 May, has committed to rebuild homes within a year, although experts have cautioned that safety should come first.
An official stated that for certain initiatives, tenders and contracts had already been awarded and safety would not be compromised.
In a number of cities, rescue teams have been supplanted by tens of thousands of trucks and excavators that are chipping away at the concrete mountains. According to workers in the city of Antakya, Hatay province, it can take several days to clear one building of detritus.
“The magnitude of the challenge is nearly incomprehensible,” said Louisa Vinton, UNDP Resident Representative. According to the UNDP, the catastrophe generated at least ten times as much rubble as the 1999 Turkish earthquake.
Much of the debris that has been removed thus far has been stored in nearby temporary landfills, raising contamination concerns. Several experts told Reuters that there is concern that older building materials may contain asbestos, a cancer-causing fibre outlawed in many countries, including Turkey.
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In a tweet, Deputy Environment Minister Mehmet Emin Birpinar stated that dust suppression systems were being used to prevent the spread of hazardous substances such as asbestos.
In cities such as Antakya and Osmaniye, journalists from Reuters observed some water vehicles hosing down debris as it was loaded onto trucks, but in many other instances, no such measures were taken. Birpinar could not be reached promptly for comment.
ENVIRONMENTAL WARNINGS
According to three individuals who work directly in the rubble removal industry in the southern Turkish city of Antakya, proximity and convenience are the primary considerations when locating dump sites.
However, Ahmet Kahraman, the chairman of the Chamber of Environmental Engineers, stated that geological and environmental specialists must conduct a “detailed analysis” of where debris is stored.
Some environmental activists and opposition politicians warn that improper debris removal could result in an ecological catastrophe. At least one of the locations visited by Reuters was a forest.
Gokhan Gunaydin of the opposition CHP party stated, “Dumping debris in the city, olive groves, and stream beds without decomposing and recycling it causes new environmental calamities.”
Friday night, Birpinar announced on Twitter that the areas chosen for debris disposal in Hatay were remote from agricultural and residential areas, as well as wetlands and protected areas.
He added that 19 temporary sites with a total area of 200 football fields had been identified in Hatay and that 150,000 cubic metres of rubble were being transported per day.
This week, hundreds of vehicles carrying rubble drove into the hills east of Antakya, unloading it in areas surrounded by verdant vegetation and olive trees.
The 51-year-old owner of a pavement brick and cement block factory, Altan Arslan, stated that he had donated his land to the government for use as a debris dump following the earthquake.
According to him, tens of thousands of trucks arrived daily, and the pile of debris grew into an enormous mound. The refuse was then levelled and pushed towards a cliff face by bulldozers, sending some debris tumbling into the valley and creating dense clouds of dust.
“We may need a few more fields like this because the devastation is so extensive,” Arslan said as excavators discarded shattered concrete near new cement blocks in his yard.
He added that locals were too traumatised immediately after the earthquake to be concerned about where the debris was being dumped.
His factory contributed to the development of Antakya, but the land on which it stood is now the city’s cemetery.
“We were ecstatic while building this metropolis, but seeing it crumble like this is heartbreaking.” He placed his hand to his face and wept.
