Disasters in Kastamonu (1930-1945)

Kastamonu, known for its proximity to the North Anatolian Fault Line, has experienced many earthquakes in the historical process. The 1943 Tosya-Lâdik Earthquake, which happened in our recent history and has not been erased from memories yet, affected Kastamonu and a large area around it. The earthquake, in which the loss of life exceeded a thousand in Kastamonu and caused so many people to be injured ,also caused thousands of citizens to be homeless.When the are examined, Kastamonu center, districts and villages are also a region where several disasters such as floods, landslides, hail, storms and fires are experienced and citizens are adversely affected by this situation.From these disasters, forest fires and village and household fires have generally occurred as a result of carelessness and it resulted in loss of life and property.In addition to the cases where schools, pharmacies, hotels and dozens of shops were burned, there were also cases of village fires that were displaced because almost all of their houses were burned.Along with the forest fires breaking out as a result of carelessness, there have also been forest fires that were set deliberately.In Kastamonu, which was exposed to hail and flood disasters in the summer months, there were casualties and animals perished; homes and businesses were flooded, bridges and agricultural lands were damaged.There have been deaths and injuries in the lightning strikes that the villagers have been exposed to occasionally In addition, extreme snow, storm, blizzard and frost events have adversely affected the general life occasionally,roads have been closed and people have lost their lives by freezing.With the disasters experienced ,according to the understanding of the social state, timbers from the state forests were given to those whose houses were burned, tents and subsistence support were provided to those affected by the earthquake, and grains were given to those whose agricultural products were damaged by hail and floods.Citizens were tried to be conscious by using the press tools of the period, and columnists wrote interesting articles about disasters.