- Harris, Trump and Biden mark Oct. 7 attacks as US election looms
- US judge orders Google to open Android to rival app stores
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights 'sacred' multi-front war
- Nobel scientist uncovered tiny genetic switches with big potential
- Grammy-winning Cissy Houston, mother of Whitney, dies at 91
- UN biodiversity summit in Colombia aims to turn words into action
- Georgia Supreme Court reinstates six-week abortion ban
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights multi-front war
- Intensifying to Category 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida
- Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Dupont set for Toulouse return after post-Olympic holiday
- French rugby bosses tighten discipline after nightmare Argentina tour
- Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain
- Man City and Premier League both claim victory in legal case
- Deschamps delight as 'light back on' for Pogba after doping ban
- Biden, Harris urge Mideast peace on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
- UN warns world's water cycle becoming ever more erratic
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- Ex-Dutch football star Johan Neeskens dies
- Man Utd battling to improve fortunes, says Evans
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Masood, Abdullah centuries lift Pakistan to 328-4 in first England Test
- Hurricane Milton strengthens fast, threatens Mexico, Florida
- Tunisia's President Saied set for landslide election win
- Barca hoping to return to Camp Nou 'by end of year'
- Trump to open second golf course at Scotland resort in summer 2025
- Super-sub Jhon Duran rewarded with new Aston Villa deal
- US duo win Nobel for gene regulation breakthrough
- Masood hits first ton for four years to power Pakistan to 233-1
- Fritz wins delayed match to reach Shanghai Masters third round
- Naomi Osaka pulls out of Japan Open with back injury
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
- Artist Marina Abramovic hopes first China show offers tech respite
- Pakistan 122-1 at lunch in first England Test
- Kazakhs approve plan for first nuclear power plant
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- 'Second family': tennis stars hunt winning formula with new coaches
- Philippines, South Korea agree to deepen maritime cooperation
- Mexico mayor murdered days after taking office
- Sardinia's sheep farmers battle bluetongue as climate warms
- Japan govt admits doctoring 'untidy' cabinet photo
- Israel marks first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack
- Darvish tames Ohtani as Padres thrash Dodgers
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Family affair as LeBron, Bronny James make Lakers bow
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
- As Great Salt Lake dries, Utah Republicans pardon Trump climate skepticism
- Amazon activist warns of 'critical situation' ahead of UN forum
RBGPF | -1.97% | 58.94 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.53% | 24.57 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.45% | 6.88 | $ | |
SCS | -0.15% | 12.95 | $ | |
RIO | -0.11% | 69.62 | $ | |
GSK | -0.49% | 38.63 | $ | |
NGG | -1.56% | 65.48 | $ | |
BCC | 1.68% | 141.27 | $ | |
AZN | -0.78% | 76.87 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.09% | 24.79 | $ | |
BCE | -0.54% | 33.53 | $ | |
JRI | -0.76% | 13.18 | $ | |
VOD | 0.31% | 9.69 | $ | |
RELX | -0.54% | 46.04 | $ | |
BP | 0.78% | 33.14 | $ | |
BTI | -0.26% | 35.2 | $ |
Fear brews in Turkey's landslide-plagued tea hills
Every time it rains heavily in Turkey's spectacular Black Sea tea growing region -- where it rains a lot -- Zikrullah Komurcu starts to worry.
Last August he was almost swept away by a mudslide when a tea garden above his home in the village of Abdullahhoca began to slide down the mountain during a downpour.
The house above his was destroyed with part of the field ending up in his kitchen.
"It's a miracle that no one was killed," Komurcu told AFP, an electricity pylon still perched dangerously over his mud-splattered home.
The tea-growing province of Rize in Turkey's northeast has been repeatedly hit by major landslides over the last 50 years.
Nearly twice as wet as Ireland, with 2.2 metres (86 inches) of annual rainfall, the Turkish disaster agency AFAD said last year alone there were 355 serious landslides there affecting homes.
And it is going to get worse, experts warn, with climate change making the Black Sea warmer and rainstorms even more violent, putting still more pressure on the soil.
- Dangerous monoculture -
Hakan Yanbay, of the province's chamber of geological engineers, said the "uncontrolled" construction of roads cut into the sides of mountains to link its scattered villages has exacerbated the problem.
They undermine the stability of the soil of the mountainous region, 80 percent of which is made up of steep hillsides.
Yanbay blames the spread of tea plantations over the last century for much of the soil erosion. Long encouraged by the state, they now take up a staggering 90 percent of the region's agricultural land.
While no one has died in a landslide in Rize in nearly three years, three workers were swept away in one in neighbouring Trabzon province in March -- 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Abdullahhoca.
But painful memories of other disasters that have claimed 130 lives in Rize since the 1960s are never far from the surface.
"We are going to prevent the floods and landslides that we have been experiencing in the Black Sea region for years," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- whose family comes from Rize -- vowed in April.
After six villagers were killed in floods and mudslides in 2021, Erdogan called for a ban on "five- to 10-storey buildings being put up on hillsides".
The president was scathing about the damage being done. "Look at what nitrogen fertilisers are doing to the tea gardens," he said on a visit to Rize after that disaster. "They turning the soil into mud," he added.
- 'Man-made disasters' -
But three years later "no serious measures have been taken", insisted Tahsin Ocakli, the only opposition MP in the province dominated by Erdogan's AK party.
Ocakli, who has demanded a parliamentary inquiry, said that "these events, which are now happening several times a year, are no longer natural catastrophes but man-made disasters."
The Rize chamber of agriculture raised the alert about discounted nitrogen fertilisers being sold in February, warning they were likely to further undermine the soil.
But experts say the real problem is the tea plants themselves whose roots are not deep enough to stabilise the ground.
They recommended planting trees like poplars and eucalyptus whose deeper roots absorb more water.
To try to reduce the risks, the authorities have begun building drainage channels and retaining walls below some tea gardens.
A concrete barrier has been built to protect the home of Zikrullah Komurcu's nephew, who lives near him in Abdullahhoca.
Komurcu and his wife Medine are waiting for a similar one to shield them.
"Every time it rains we wonder if there will be another landslide," Medine said. "I don't sleep anymore -- we're afraid."
T.Vitorino--PC