Turkey has recorded at least 100 forest fires in recent days in the south of the country. The fire killed six and forced thousands of people to seek refuge.
Heat waves and low air humidity are factors that lead to forest fires in Mediterranean countries, such as Turkey, during the northern hemisphere summer. But Turkish officials say the area devastated by the fire this time around is larger than expected.
Of the 101 fires recorded during the week, 91 have already been brought under control, Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli informed.
In the coastal province of Antalya, which still has active fires, the temperature could reach 47 ° C over the next week, according to Turkish meteorological authorities.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited on Saturday (31) the areas affected by the fire in the city of Manavga, in Antalya province, and pledged that all destroyed houses would be rebuilt and those affected would be compensated.
Erdogan also said that Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran and Ukraine have sent tankers and support teams to the affected areas.
Mehmet Demir, a resident of Manavga whose house was destroyed by fire, told Reuters news agency that “the flames spread into the mountains and caught fire.”
“All that’s left for me and my wife now are the clothes on our bodies. There is nothing we can do,” he lamented.
Intense forest fires have also been recorded in other countries in the northern hemisphere in recent weeks, such as Greece and Italy, as well as on the west coast of the United States and Canada. At the same time, unprecedented heavy rains fell on Germany and China.
According to experts, the increase in global temperatures resulting from human activity generates an accumulation of energy in the atmosphere which dissipates through extreme weather events, which tend to become more and more powerful and frequent.