Minister of Internal Affairs Mustafa Çiftçi made statements regarding the latest status of the work carried out in the flood-affected areas in Sakarya. Minister Çiftçi drew attention to the extent of the rainfall in the region. Stating that 275 kilograms of precipitation fell per square meter in Ferizli district and 224 kilograms per square meter in Karasu, Çiftçi stated that these amounts are quite high.
"OUR STATE IS BY OUR NATION WITH ALL ITS POSSIBILITIES"
The statements of the Minister of Internal Affairs Mustafa Çiftçi are as follows;
"As a result of yesterday's orange code, 275 kilograms of precipitation per square meter has fallen in our Ferizli district. 224 kilograms of precipitation has fallen in Karasu. These are large amounts of precipitation. However, we have sent support teams from the surrounding provinces to support the coordination efforts here. We have coordinated. Currently, we are trying to manage the crisis and ensure coordination with our 1,621 personnel, 617 vehicles and 8 boats in Sakarya. 641 notifications have been received to our 112 Emergency Call Center so far and 865 people have been evacuated. As a result of the rains and floods in Sakarya, 2 buildings and 5 bridges have been destroyed. There are disruptions in some public services. There is damage to cultivated areas. For example, 170 thousand poultry have died. 209 beehives were again damaged as a result of these rains.
Our state stands by our nation with all its resources. I want to express this first. After these rains stop and things calm down a little, both our damage assessment studies and our damage assessment commissions will start working in the field and we will try to cover the damage and loss of our citizens in line with the possibilities of our state and nation. Of course, during these studies, our Red Crescent, other non-governmental organizations and other institutions of our state are trying to work diligently. Currently, our General Manager of State Hydraulic Works is among us. They continue their work in Sakarya with 44 vehicles and 100 personnel. They continue their stream improvement work.
To date, we, as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, have provided 120 construction machines and 20 trucks through AFAD. We allocated a total of 140 vehicles. These are mostly used in breeding studies in the Black Sea Region. Our State Water Works also uses its own resources. As a result of these preventive efforts, if there is no loss of life or property in disasters, these studies are also of great value and importance. Precautions taken in advance have value. As a result of the precautions we have taken in advance and as a result of the measures taken by our governorship and coordination center, much higher losses of life and property have been prevented. As a result of these efforts, I would like to thank our governor, our disaster teams, the valuable employees of our Metropolitan Municipality, our district municipality employees, our State Hydraulic Works, the employees of our Regional Directorate of Highways and all our other friends who contributed. Again, all elements and personnel of our Ministry of Internal Affairs are mobilizing all their resources to overcome this disaster harmlessly, without damage or with less damage.
"METEOROLOGY GIVEN ORANGE CODE WARNING FOR OUR 5 CITIES"
I have a call to our citizens at this point. Our citizens in the provinces where an orange warning has been issued should please avoid leaving their homes as much as possible. Let them park their vehicles in safe places. In this way, I think we can reduce the loss of life and property to lower levels. These works are already being carried out within the framework of Türkiye's Disaster Response Plan. Once again, I would like to thank all our staff, especially our governor, and all our friends who contributed. May they all enjoy their efforts. We need to pray and pray that God will protect our state and nation from similar disasters. We are indeed receiving very serious rainfall. We have been witnessing such days for perhaps a year. That's why we believe that by working together, state and nation, we can hopefully overcome these with minimal damage. I thank you all again. I wish you all good work."
