Istanbul, Oct 3, (dpa/GNA) – The Turkish Medical Association (TTB), on Tuesday urged adequate precautions to protect over a million people in temporary shelters in south-eastern Hatay province, one of the cities worst hit by February’s devastating earthquakes.
The region needs to take measures to sustain temporary shelters and hospitals through winter conditions, The Turkish Medical Association’s Hatay representative, Sevdar Yilmaz, told dpa.
Flash floods struck Hatay this week, affecting at least 5,000 people in container houses and tents. Images shared by local media, showed flooded containers, tents and a field hospital in Hatay, along the Syrian border.
The latest flood shows that “we are by no means prepared for winter,” Yilmaz told dpa over the phone.
The majority of containers cannot withstand a heavy storm, while a bigger flood could lead to diseases spreading due to contaminated water, Yilmaz warned.
In Hatay, around one million people live in tents or improvised shelters, including refugees from neighbouring Syria, according to the Turkish Medical Association. Some 160,000 others live in containers.
On February 6, twin earthquakes killed more than 50,000 people in south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria.
Several thousand people still live in temporary shelters. The Turkish government has promised to move some of them to newly built apartments before the end of this year.
GNA