Authorities in Istanbul have paid 10,000 lira each to about 5,000 residents affected by this week’s flash floods, Istanbul Governor Davut Gül said on Friday, as search teams continued to look for four people still missing.
Speaking from a mobile coordination truck of AFAD, Türkiye’s disaster and emergency management authority, in the northern district of Ayazağa, Gül said the emergency payments, worth roughly 50 million lira in total, had been transferred before damage assessments were finished. The money came from an allocation by the Ministry of Family and Social Services.
More support from Monday
Gül said households with heavier or different kinds of losses would receive additional payments starting on Monday. Residents who cannot return to their homes are being put up in hotels around the city, while the Turkish Red Crescent is supplying meals to rescue workers and local people. Social assistance, psychosocial support and search-and-rescue services are being offered at the AFAD truck so that residents do not have to visit several offices.
Search operations for the four missing people are continuing on land and at sea, with the gendarmerie, coast guard and police working under AFAD coordination. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday that three citizens had died in floods in Istanbul and Antalya, and urged the public to follow official weather warnings as heavy rain was expected to continue. Earlier reports from the city are summarised in our coverage of the floods that shut schools and diverted flights and of doctors’ advice on tap water and soaked food.
Stream beds and urban renewal
The governor said work to remove illegal structures built on the stream bed would begin on Saturday so that the waterway can be rehabilitated. Environment and Urbanisation Minister Murat Kurum has visited the area, and Gül said TOKİ, the state housing agency, would take on the redevelopment of buildings whose residents reach agreement among themselves.
Two models are on the table: support under the government’s "Half From Us" urban renewal campaign, in which the state covers part of the reconstruction cost, or a 50-50 arrangement in which TOKİ builds the new blocks and hands them over. Türkiye has used similar schemes to replace ageing and risky housing stock, as described in our report on the 2.38 million units renewed since 2012.
No official figures have yet been released on the number of damaged homes, shops or vehicles. Foreign residents renting or owning property in flood-prone neighbourhoods may want to review their DASK compulsory earthquake insurance and any separate home policy, since flood cover is usually sold as an add-on; our moving to Turkey checklist covers the basics of insurance and registration.
Sources
- İstanbul Valisi Davut Gül A Haber’de açıkladı! 5 bin kişiye 10’ar bin liralık ödeme yapıldı (A Haber)
- Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan: Sahada tüm tedbirler alınmakta (NTV)
Photo: Maurice Flesier / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
