Prof. Dr. Mesut Başıbüyük: ‘The number of disasters has increased from 40 to 1,475 in 30 years’

Associate Professor Dr. Mesut Başıbüyük from the Department of Environmental Engineering at Cukurova University stated that the number of meteorological disasters due to climate change is increasing, saying ’30 years ago, there were around 35-40 meteorological disasters per year, while in 2023 this number has reached 1,475.’ The adverse effects such as depletion and pollution of water resources, environmental destruction, and climate change lead to various extreme weather events worldwide. Associate Professor Dr. Mesut Başıbüyük from the Department of Environmental Engineering at Cukurova University provided explanations about global climate change and its impacts to Ihlas News Agency.
Prof. Dr. Mesut Başıbüyük mentioned that looking at ocean surface water temperatures and air temperatures, they have observed that the all-time record has been broken, stating ‘Therefore, increasing sea surface temperatures and rising air temperatures bring along these meteorological disasters. We are already clearly seeing this. In the past month, records have been constantly broken for the past 40-45 months. And in the past year, we see that this increase in temperature or sea surface temperature has reached very high values, almost as much as the increase that occurred in 40 or 50 years. Now, what we should expect from this is that the number of meteorological disasters we will face will increase. When you look at the annual climate assessment reports of the Turkish State Meteorological Service, 30 years ago, around 35-40 meteorological disasters were recorded per year, while in 2023, this number has reached 1,475.’
‘All of these are climate anomalies’ pointed out by Prof. Dr. Başıbüyük, stating ‘We experienced a very warm winter, had very little snowfall, and then were exposed to intense dust storms. Actually, all of these are climate anomalies and emerge as meteorological disasters. Now, after these hot spells, the rains that occur come down as sudden floods, as you can see. Rainfalls that come down to the ground in a very short time often cause harm rather than benefit people. Now we are right in the middle of the grain harvest. Probably, in the Cukurova region and certain areas in the Mediterranean region, significant damage may have occurred.’
‘Everyone needs to make their lifestyle more modest’ emphasized Başıbüyuk, underlining the need to make cities more resilient against climate disasters, stating ‘In cities, it shouldn’t actually cause damage when we have 50-60-70 kilograms of rainfall per square meter. In all of these events, we have our own lifestyle. That is, consuming more, traveling more, being more active. Therefore, when you look, there is a capacity for nature to bear it when people consume so much raw material and energy. We clearly see that nature cannot bear this. Therefore, individually, everyone actually needs to make their lifestyle a bit more modest.’