“We are in the coastal district in Samandağ. It is here that the second longest beach in the world is located, which stretches from here to Iskenderun. We are on the coast of Hatay.” The Mediterranean Sea is only 200 meters away, but impossible to see. A gigantic mountain of toxic rubble stretches as far as the eye can see.
>> Asbestos, toxic rubble… After the earthquake in Turkey, the risk of wanting to rebuild the devastated cities hastily worries
Çağdaş, professor in Samandağ and militant in the collective “We will come back and we will rebuild”, does not lose his temper in front of this infernal site. 24 hours a day, trucks come here to unload tens of millions of tons of rubble from buildings that collapsed during the earthquake. “In this area, no one, neither the State nor anyone else, has the right to dig a hole, because it was a den of birds, ofound endemic plants there”he explains. “Constitutionally, it is strictly forbidden to do anything here.”
“But from the second day of the earthquake, we gave the right to clear the rubble to two private companies. And they ignored all these laws because only their profits count.”
Çağdaş, teacher in Samandağat BlazeTrends
Exactly four months ago, on February 6, two powerful tremors devastated southern Turkey and Syria. The official toll announces nearly 50,000 dead, but there are probably many more. Tens of thousands of buildings collapsed like houses of cards. The province of Hatay, bordering Syria, was the hardest hit. But to clear the ground as quickly as possible, around twenty wild dumping sites have been created to evacuate the toxic rubble without taking precautions, at the risk of causing an ecological and health disaster.
Lead, heavy metals and asbestos in the rubble
A small road separates the mountain, poisoned from two schools and a village of tents which shelter survivors of the earthquake. Gülhan has found refuge there with her children, and she admits her helplessness. “There are carcinogenic products”she explains. “We didn’t die in the earthquake, but we’re going to die from this cancer dust. We demonstrated a lot, we raised our voices, but nobody did anything.”
A few kilometers away, in the still deeply devastated city of Antioch, Dr. Ali Kanatli fears a health disaster. He opened a dispensary to treat all victims of Hatay free of charge. “It’s not just about asbestos”he says. “We find in the evacuated rubble fridges, televisions, household appliances. We find lead in the paint, in all the buildings. It is a heavy metal, which can lead to problems with the development of intelligence .”
“Hospitals were destroyed: they housed radioactive sections, microbiological culture centers, chemicals, heavy metals. All of this was cleared without paying attention to it.”
Dr Ali Kanatliat BlazeTrends
He already sees many patients with respiratory ailments. “The groundwater and the sea are also contaminated”he sighs. “But no one cares. We are in Turkey, today only money counts.”
The report by Marie-Pierre Vérot in Samandağ, Türkiye
