An earthquake up to 7.0 magnitude hit İzmir province in the west of Turkey, near the Aegean sea, the last week, setting off tidal waves, leaving 114 people dead, over 1 thousand injured and several buildings destroyed.
While Turkish search-and-rescue teams continue their work on the field, the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) established a crisis desk and called for solidarity with the people of İzmir.
Thanks to its call for solidarity that received a great response in a short time TKP became almost the only organization that significantly met the needs of the earthquake victims in the surrounding tent cities due to the local governments’ approach the issue with temporary and inadequate solutions.
TKP İzmir Provincial Organization reacted to the temporary solutions brought to the agenda after the earthquake, and listed the things quickly to be done in 5 articles.
The statement made by TKP İzmir Provincial Organization is as follows:
Temporary solutions mean permanent misery
Thousands of our citizens, who lost their homes in a week after the earthquake, are living in difficult conditions in tents. Various institutions of the state did nothing but setting up tents and burning wood. We know that everything has a price for them.
Representatives of Turkey's ruling AKP government propose funny figures for earthquake victims for rent or moving. They calculate how to get out of the situation, giving the money that costs the watches on their arms and bags on their shoulders. Although they are making an effort to meet daily needs, local governments, on the other hand, approach the issue with temporary solutions. The question remains: "What will earthquake victims do after five months have passed?"
The government and local administrations promise nothing but policies that keep the earthquake victims busy for a while with easy solutions and ultimately leave them at the mercy of the market. However, there is a gap between the dimensions of the problem and the policies put forward as a solution.
In the statement made by Turkey’s Ministry of Environment and Urbanization today, it is clearly seen that at least 9 thousand households are homeless. In addition, the evaluations made in lightly damaged buildings and the current condition of the buildings are not found reliable by our citizens.
For years, every part of the city has been offered to contractors. Housing policies have not produced in line with the needs of the people. As a result, we know that there are thousands of residences in İzmir built for investment purposes but are empty. The fact that tens of thousands of people have to stay outside in tents while thousands of residences are empty reveals the folly and immorality of this order.
We reject all temporary and charitable solutions offered for our citizens who are forced to live in tents and take care of themselves.
We declare what needs immediately to be done:
1- The housing needs of our citizens who cannot stay in their homes must be determined immediately and publicly disclosed regardless of the damage conditions of the houses as heavy, moderate or light.
2- Our citizens need shelter in safe and healthy conditions. Our citizens in need must be permanently resettled in residences provided free of charge by the public.
3- Electricity, water, heating, health and education services must be provided free of charge.
4- No citizen must be forced to work in damaged buildings.
5- All citizens affected by the earthquake must be considered on paid leave at work until healthy living conditions are restored.
