Natural Disasters in Our Village

Some Greek and Ottoman writings from the Ottoman period mention natural disasters that occurred in our village. Below are some of them that I was able to translate.

Infectious diseases

The cholera and/or plague epidemic in Gümüşhane and its villages in 1787, 1845, 1852, 1861, 1865 and 1892 caused fearful days in İstavri. In fact, in some of these years, the village was evacuated and temporarily moved to higher elevations.

28 July 1861 Flood Disaster

In some Greek sources, it is written that there was a terrible disaster in İstavri on this date. After heavy rains on Kulat Mountain and Barmada highlands, many farms and gardens in İstavri were flooded and turned into ruins.

17 July 1886 Flood Disaster

After heavy rains, the streams rise so high that some bridges and mills are destroyed.

October 25, 1886 Blizzard

A group of 20 people, mostly women and a few children, who set out from Trabzon to return to their villages, were stranded in a snowstorm in Gulat locality, Turna Lake. Although they tried to protect themselves from the blizzard with the blankets they had with them and  with the blankets the muleteer Christos Mianas (probably from Mehelle) who got from İstavri, most of them died. Five women and a child from İstavri, 3 women from the Parti, one person from Imera, two people from Bazben, one person from Russia and Mrs. Kereki Keşişoğlu from Monamatlı died. Meanwhile, three of the horses with them froze to death.

4 January 1891 Flood Disaster

While Kekeri, the bride of Osman Agha from Manamat and Yior's wife, is sitting by the stream with a load of bush on her back, she does not notice the flood that comes as a result of heavy rains and gets caught in the water. Their bodies are found in İkisu locality two days later and they are buried in Manamatlı. The flood of 1891 affected the entire Kurum Valley. Many houses and bridges were destroyed.

Early winter snow of 1916

As we entered the winter of 1916, four people, who were ravaged by the cold and snowfall once again returning from Trabzon, come to a chapel in Anelepsi in the evening under difficult conditions. But they realize that if they spend the night in that chapel, they will die of cold. Then the two of them, who are confident in themselves, continue on their way and reach the village. The other two decide to spend the night in the chapel and wait for help. However, the rescue teams coming from the village towards the morning come across the returned corpses of a Greek citizen and Osman Emiroğlu. Osman Emiroğlu is Ayşe Sever's father and Osman Sever's grandfather.

Landslides

There have been some minor landslides/landslides in our village as a result of heavy rains from time to time. Some houses in some neighborhoods were damaged in these landslides.

Earthquakes

An earthquake occurred in Kanunisani (January) 1894 in the center of Cebeli/Baladan. 64 houses were heavily damaged in Baladan. There is no information about the damage in our village.

In the notes my father took on the last pages of the Qur'an, it is written that the earth shook violently at around 2 am on 27th Kanunievvel (December) 1939. He does not mention whether there is any damage in the village. I think it is the effect of the big Erzincan earthquake.

Drought and Famine

Between the years of 1892-1894 and 1907-1910, famine arose due to drought. It is written in the Ottoman records that there were some casualties during these famines. Especially in our village, there is no document that shows that there were casualties.

Evacuation Medal

Alemdârzâde Ruşen Efendi (from Molaabdullah), one of the residents of our village, was awarded a rescue medal by the Trabzon Governorship on May 12, 1892, for his outstanding efforts in saving lives. (Annex-32)