ANKARA
The Turkish government will do everything to help victims of flood and landslides in northeastern Artvin province, and already the Prime Ministry has allocated 10 million Turkish liras for affected families, a Turkish minister has said.
Addressing the media after his visit to Hopa State Hospital in the early hours of Tuesday, Turkish Minister of Forestry and Water Affairs Veysel Eroglu put the death toll at eight, adding that a child also went missing in the incident.
“Six people died in the landslides and two in the floods,” Eroglu said following an emergency meeting with regional authorities in the province’s Hopa district.
The minister said that the region saw heavy rainfall, with a total of “250 millimeters of rainfall per hour within 12 hours”.
He said that emergency teams, including the AKUT Search and Rescue Association and the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of Turkey (AFAD), would make all efforts to rescue people and would also intervene in inaccessible neighborhoods and villages.
“We will do emergency work in Hopa and in a village in Arhavi,” he said, adding that prefabricated culverts would also be brought to the region.
About the assistance to victims’ families, he said: “The Prime Ministry has allocated 10 million Turkish liras for the emergency needs of the affected families”.
A study of landslide risks in Hopa, Borcka, Artvin and Arhavi will also be carried out, the minister said.
Earlier, Artvin Governor Kemal Cirit on Monday said that the flood and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall killed residents of Hopa district and its Yoldere, Yesilkoy and Esmekaya villages.
Cirit added that a young girl was missing in Hopa and at least 17 people were injured and taken to hospital for treatment.
Hopa District Governor Nedim Cihan told Anadolu Agency earlier that the flooding and landslides could be the "worst disaster that our district experienced in 50 years".
