Page 245 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 2

Zerrin Toprak Karaman - Özlem Çakır - Meriç Aziz Berge

3. Is Storm a Disaster?

The storm phenomenon can be associated with different ages, locations
and civilizations in human history. In the minds of Ancient Mesopotamia, it
was considered as a God, the source of any happening. In ancient available
records, in the 340s, B.C., Greek philosopher Aristotle in his Meteorology
(Greek: Μετεωρολογικά; Latin: Meteorologica or Meteora) is known to have
dwelled on formulas containing the calculation of all the common effects on
the air and water, water vapor, earthquakes, and other weather conditions
(Çevik, 2017).
The characteristic God of the Hittites is The God of Thunder. It is depicted
symbolically while holding the reins of a carriage pulled by bulls on top of
the mountains. In the tablets found in Sivas-Başören/Kuşaklı in 1994, there
is clear mention of Sarissa, the God of Thunder, whom countries swore an
th
oath on in treaties with each other. In Kadesh Treaty (early 13 century), it is
known that people swore an oath on the Thunder Gods of 12 cities (Savaş,
2002). Historical records show that storms were experienced in the past as
well, and attributed “Godlike qualities”. The 12 main Gods, including Athena
(Minerva), who had the power of intelligence symbolized by thunder bolts and
Hermes (Mercury), symbolizing rain, stand out from other Gods (Can, 1994).
When the information is assessed as a whole, storm plays an important role
in human life. It is clear that weather conditions that will scare people will be
experienced today as in the past. However, certain phenomena are remembered
as they are experienced. During the studies carried out in Çanakkale, the
participants remembered a snowstorm that entered the literature in 2004 and
2006, during the conversation. The participants who started their words saying
“There are strong winds, but they don’t affect us very much” also mentioned
that during the precipitation (snow with thunderclaps and lightning) that started
in Jan 22th, 2004 and lasted for 5 days, concrete electric posts were broken,
the main electric lines were all broken and communication was interrupted
for days. One participant even mentioned “carrying his wife on his back as he
couldn’t find an ambulance”. We also learn from academic publications that
on Jan 23th -27th and Feb 6th-8th 2006, snow storms defined as disasters were
experienced, and the lack of preparation and relevant training intensified the
crisis (Çalışkan and Aslan, 2006).
We tend to forget past experiences quickly. Looking at the recent events,
we can see that 2017 and 2018 witnessed extreme weather conditions that
threatened the whole world (MGM, 2021), causing huge economic losses and
affecting communities deeply. Türkiye’s close neighbor, Greece experienced
storms with records of deaths. In many parts of the country, roads were flooded,
cyclones were formed due to storms with a speed up to 100 km/h, and, which

231 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate