Antakya (Turkey) (AFP) – Half a dozen dump vans offloaded their probably hazardous cargo of rubble in a cloud of mud by a roadside in Antakya, Turkey, one of many cities worst hit by a lethal earthquake.
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Two weeks after an earthquake devastated southern Turkey, which on Monday was as soon as once more rattled by a quake, specialists concern hundreds of thousands of tons of particles will find yourself dumped within the open.
Police watched on because the rubble-laden vans trundled alongside a winding street resulting in the traditional citadel that overlooks town of 400,000 individuals which is now virtually fully abandoned.
An excavator and two diggers sat idle, surrounded by dozens of mounds that have been as soon as houses and workplaces.
Related efforts to take away the ever-present rubble that now dominates quake-hit cities are beneath manner in central Iskenderun, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Antakya, AFP correspondents noticed.
In Hatay province, the area worst-hit by the February 6 earthquake, the query of how you can deal with the particles is more and more taking centre stage.
In Antakya, a whole lot of excavators crammed dump vans which moved on in single file as operations to seek out survivors wound down.
In whole, greater than 118,000 buildings have been destroyed or severely broken by the earthquake, which killed greater than 42,000 individuals in Turkey, and practically 46,000 in whole together with neighbouring Syria.
Displaced individuals will begin to transfer in inside a 12 months, he promised.
‘Harming the atmosphere’
The dimensions of the duty is daunting, however Erdogan has vowed the rubble will probably be eliminated and processed “with out harming the atmosphere and the individuals”.
Final week, authorities needed to reassure conservationists after footage emerged displaying waste being dumped at a chook sanctuary in Hatay province.
“We now have solved this drawback. We are going to acquire this waste… as quickly as attainable,” Deputy Setting Minister Mehmet Emin Birpinar mentioned on Twitter.
Koray Dogan Urbarli, a spokesman for Turkey’s Inexperienced Social gathering, mentioned the authorities have been solely involved in getting “rid of the pictures that may lose votes for the federal government”.
Conservationists have been alarmed after footage emerged of rubble dumped at a chook sanctuary © Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP
100 million tons containing “many substances dangerous to human well being and the ecosystem” have to be eliminated with nice care, he mentioned.
The possibly dangerous rubble being moved across the metropolis on an enormous fleet of vans was fully uncovered, AFP correspondents noticed.
Asbestos, an insulating and carcinogenic substance which was permitted to be used in Turkey till 2014, is sort of actually current, specialists have mentioned.
‘Uncontrolled method’
“(It) can comprise many alternative chemical substances like lead or microplastics or asbestos,” mentioned Sedat Gundogdu, a plastic air pollution specialist at Cukurova College in Adana.
The researcher estimates that the 200 million tons of rubble created by the earthquake is “seven occasions the quantity of waste generated by Turkey yearly”.
“We do not have the capability to handle that quantity of waste,” he mentioned.
The earthquake-related rubble, first briefly transported to 1 web site, will then be transferred to a second web site and sorted earlier than being buried, he mentioned.
A researcher says the rubble created by the earthquake, together with in Antakya, is ‘seven occasions the quantity of waste generated by Turkey yearly’ © Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP
Authorities should make sure the flooring of the dumping pits usually are not porous or else “they have to be coated” with an impermeable layer to forestall contamination of groundwater, mentioned Gundogdu.
“Shifting these supplies… in an uncontrolled method will endanger the soil, water, air, the entire ecosystem, and life as an entire for a few years,” environmental marketing campaign group Greenpeace informed AFP.
Urbarli says the speedy elimination of rubble may hinder any investigation into probably corrupt builders and contractors whose buildings collapsed.
“All this rubble is proof!” he mentioned.
© 2023 AFP