BİGA FIRES AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT (1901-1904)

32792

Fire is one of the main disasters that caused severe damage to the Ottoman towns. In this study, two great fire incidents that occurred in the town of Biga in 1901 and 1904, and the relevant disaster management processes have been examined through the archival documents. The economic damage caused by the two fire incidents, the measures taken by the government, public reliefs both in kind and in cash, and also the reconstruction works are the main topics of this study. The wooden and attached buildings, and also narrow streets caused fire to spread rapidly across the town of Biga. Poor firefighting facilities prevented extinguishing fire with ease. Fortunately, there was no casualty in the fire. However, post-fire reconstruction process took a long time. 386 buildings were completely destroyed by the 1901 fire in the Greek quarter of the town, while 1136 buildings remained in rubble in the 1904 fire in the market district of the town.

511

Fire , Disaster Management , Public Reliefs , Çanakkale , Biga.

Celal Bayar University Journal Of Social Sciences

537

Celal Bayar University Journal Of Social Sciences