What the papers say
KIBRIS columnist Hasan Hastürer commented yesterday on years of “negligence” that caused this week’s flood disaster, emphasising that those responsible hadn’t been brought to account for their role.
“The right to forgive or not forgive those who were negligent belongs to are those who have lost loved ones and whose homes were damaged,” Mr Hastürer wrote. “Everyone is talking; those in authority and those not. Among all that was said, I only noted one: Prime Minister Tufan Erhürman’s statement that ‘an investigation will be conducted into the negligence’ — not just because I found it important, but because I will follow it up.
“A car carrying four young people was swept away by the floodwaters. My tongue no longer allows me to speak; neither does my hand to write. The incident after a car accident at the same spot some 20 years ago was one of the most painful experiences in my life. Back then the road was not a dual carriageway. There were no barriers. ‘If only there were barriers,’ said the public, but . . . those lost due to the deficiency of the road have not returned.
“What was more painful is the biggest offence: that whoever was negligent, no-one properly investigated it.
“Those behind the negligence, which carries the same weight as a murder, have roamed free in the community like a murderer . . . Because they knew the people on this piece of land forget easily.”
The writer continued: “For the first time in our history, we have lost lives to floods.
“After 1974, the Lefkoşa-Girne road that was made with pocket money rather than a proper budget, was closed to traffic, and the 100-or-so-year-old one made during British times was used. They did not say ‘you will be hanged with an English rope’ for nothing.”
Commenting also on the disaster at Girne’s Vuni Palace Hotel, Mr Hastürer said he was sad for, and respected, the family which owned it — but pointed to a news report from February 28, 2010 about an operation to save customers from the flooded hotel and Viva Casino when they were inundated — nearly nine years before this week saw tourists rescued, rooms inundated and dozens of cars damaged or swept away.
“What do you expect me to say? Eight years ago it was said the ‘wounds were plastered’. Eight years later, because no permanent solution was created, it was repeated as a ‘disaster’.
“The wounds will be plastered again. So, when it comes to repairing the hotel, if the floodwater has taken a familiar route, God forbid, will another disaster occur? If all of these disasters as a result of neglect happened in Japan, how many directors, undersecretaries and ministers would have resigned? So many. But ours are incompetent.
“The public forgets. The incompetent continue to neglect.”