Özhaseki's statement on İliç: Thank God we have not encountered any soil contamination so far

Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Mehmet Özhaseki, who attended the Working Meeting, made evaluations regarding the landslide in İliç, Erzincan.

Stating that 9 workers are 'still under the rubble', Özhaseki said, "Thank God, we have not encountered any contamination or the incident we feared so far. We are monitoring this moment by moment."

"THANK GOD WE HAVE NOT ENCOUNTERED CONTAMINATION"

Minister Özhaseki stated the following:

"Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya and our Minister of Energy are currently in İliç, Erzincan. It is an environment where a massive amount of earth has shifted. 9 of our brothers are currently under the soil there. There is a tremendous search effort underway. I hope and pray that they reach them as soon as possible. The issue of whether the hazardous waste there has reached the Euphrates is very important. Our relevant units, our general managers, their teams, the scientists they collaborate with, and all the technical facilities at our disposal have been completely dispatched to the region. Our vehicles are there. Our mobile laboratories are there. In addition, we are taking samples from both the soil and the water and sending them to independent laboratories. Thank God, we have not encountered any contamination or the incident we feared so far. We are monitoring this moment by moment."

Pointing to the earthquakes that occurred on February 6, Özhaseki said that 14 million people were affected by the disaster. Drawing attention to the fact that 680 thousand houses and 170 thousand workplaces were damaged according to initial assessments, Özhaseki stated that the damage and loss appear to be 104 billion dollars according to initial calculations.

Özhaseki described the services provided in the earthquake zone and gave information about urban transformation efforts.