ELAZIG GUNISIGI NEWSPAPER – March 2011
A Calamity…
Smart people don’t guide their lives through trial and error, but through experience. It doesn’t matter whose experience it is; what matters is acting according to the lessons of experience, making decisions, taking action, and reaching the goal. When experiences are disregarded and advice is ignored, calamities become inevitable. The result will inevitably be: “A calamity is better than a thousand pieces of advice.”
While it’s understandable to learn lessons from calamities instead of advice, it is impossible to comprehend not learning from the calamities themselves. While we are busy with our daily worries, on the other side of the world, people are concerned about their lives, their homeland, their children, their parents, and sometimes just a piece of bread...
The Japanese are an exemplary people in the world. In the 9.0 magnitude earthquake, the damages and losses were caused not by the buildings but by the tsunami. This hardworking nation has shown the world how to build earthquake-resistant structures. Although the inevitable is destined to happen, the feeling of having done one’s part must be an indescribably satisfying one.
In Japan, one of the greatest tragedies in its history, waves that swallowed the shores continued their path, leaving behind fire, explosions, swamps, and devastated cities. One of the biggest disasters of the century found its place in history.
In places where nothing was left standing, turning into swampy towns, the traces of lives lost to the tsunami’s waves could be seen in the cars piled on top of each other, floating houses, and household items in the streets. Most of the Japanese population is being relocated from the most dangerous areas. As cities emptied, shelters filled up. There is no electricity, no fuel, food and water shortages, malls are closed, and there is a risk of an outbreak of diseases. Unfortunately, on top of all these, nuclear danger has consumed the citizens’ hopes. How sad it is that people in Japan are not only victims of the earthquake but might also be forced to leave their country due to nuclear threats.
The calamity hasn’t struck us, but we are watching it unfold right in front of our eyes, following developments at every moment. So, how much have we learned from this calamity? What conclusions have we drawn? What actions will these results guide us toward? What steps have been taken? What occupies our agenda?
It seems we are fully focused on the upcoming elections in June, while who cares about the earthquake? We are following local and national media, but the number of journalists writing about earthquakes in their columns is, unfortunately, negligible. Yet, we are going through an important period for our country and our province. Elections could be a time to get a commitment from politicians about urban transformation and institutional building inspections.
Hasn’t our country been sufficiently affected by buildings with inadequate earthquake resistance? Aren’t the thousands of citizens who died in the 1992 Erzincan, 1999 Marmara, and 2003 Bingöl earthquakes, the survivors, and the resulting economic crises a calamity worth reflecting on?
Will we continue to open up areas with unsuitable soil for construction, fill in rivers and build housing, perform uncontrolled building inspections, limit concrete control to paper work, and wait for buildings with inadequate earthquake resistance to collapse? Or will we try to heal this open wound together?
With the hope that we will not be among those who do not learn even from calamities...