 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Focus Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Turkey's time of reckoning
By Gareth JenkinsTwo weeks after the 17 August earthquake that devastated large areas of north-west Turkey, cranes and dumper trucks continue the grim task of recovering bodies and clearing away the rubble of collapsed buildings. Meanwhile, the Turkish government is desperately trying to restore public faith in the state following its failure either to respond adequately to the disaster or to tolerate criticism.
"We have a lot of work to do. A lot of mistakes have been made," admitted a member of the government.
On Tuesday, the official death toll stood at over 14,000, with many thousands more still missing. Privately, government officials fear that the final death toll could be anything from 25,000 to 40,000. Last week the government raised its estimate of the number of people made homeless by the earthquake from 250,000 to over 600,000.
Seven tent cities with a capacity of 42,000 people have been established around the town of Izmit, which was close to the epicentre of the earthquake. But most survivors are still living either in shelters they have built themselves or out in the open.
In contrast to their appallingly slow response to the earthquake itself, the Turkish authorities do appear to have moved quickly enough to prevent epidemics. The race now is to find housing for all of the survivors before the onset of winter.
The Turkish press has initiated a "Buy a Brick" campaign to finance the construction of new housing. Significantly, the public appears much more willing to contribute to private initiatives than to state-sponsored schemes. Last week, the government was forced to shelve a draft proposal to levy special taxes to meet the repair and reconstruction costs resulting from the earthquake. Few Turks doubt that political patronage and corruption was one of the main reasons for the huge death toll, as politicians knowingly tolerated the construction of sub-standard houses in return for financial or political support. Government officials estimate that 91 per cent of the houses in Turkey have defects in either their design or the materials used in their construction.
"The people at the moment have no trust in how the huge funds that would be collected through the proposed tax scheme would be spent," said Ilnur Cevik, editor of the Turkish Daily News. "There are two fears. One is that the government will take a large portion of this money and finance its own budget deficits. The other is that the funds would be funnelled to contractors tied to political parties."
Public faith in the government has been further undermined by its failure to tolerate criticism. In a survey conducted by the daily Hurriyet, over 85 per cent of those questioned believed that the government response to the earthquake had been slow and inadequate. Public opinion was outraged by the government's decision to close the television channel, Kanal D, for a week as punishment for its "negative reporting" of the earthquake.
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit continues to insist that damage to infrastructure such as roads and bridges prevented government rescue teams from reaching the devastated areas, even though foreign rescue teams and thousands of Turkish volunteers carrying food and supplies for the survivors managed to find a way through. The speed and generosity of other countries has in itself sent a shock wave through a people who have long been taught to be suspicious of foreigners' intentions.
"It is now time to break the taboo and admit that Turks have friends who are not Turks," commented the conservative daily Zaman, which calculated that over 50 countries, in addition to numerous international organisations, had sent aid to Turkey in the wake of the earthquake.
A delegation from the IMF is due to visit Turkey later in September to finalise details of a proposed $330 million loan, part of over $1 billion in soft loans and grants offered by the international community to meet the costs of the earthquake.
"We will recover," promised Ecevit.
But recovery in itself is not enough. In 1997, Turkish and American geologists charted a series of 10 earthquakes, each with a magnitude greater than 6.7, that occurred in a progression from east to west along the 1500-kilometre North Anatolian fault and predicted that the next big one would be centred on the town of Izmit. Now they are warning that the heart of Istanbul may be next.
"There is a well-defined seismic gap 150 kilometres west of Izmit that includes Istanbul. It has all the right ingredients for a quake with a magnitude of more than seven," said seismologist Nafi Toksöz of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Few Turks have any confidence in their government's ability either to enforce building regulations or to prepare contingency plans for when another earthquake strikes.
"Already people like President Demirel keep talking about the earthquake being an act of God," said one survivor. "It's true, of course. But the politicians are also using it as excuse to hide their own responsibility. And, once a little time has passed, I'm sure they will be all be taking bribes again and when the next earthquake hits it will be us who die."
