Shall we finally learn from our mistakes?

Every year there are downpours and storms, and, unfortunately, the calamity that has come upon us at the Black Sea coast is not the first of its kind. Last year storms wiped away beaches, and some years ago, also on account of downpours, landslides got activated at Zlatni Pyasatsi and Balchik. There were considerable damages and even victims then. Notwithstanding the debates and the engagement of the institutions, the lessons were forgotten – constructions in landslide areas continued, and long-term measures were not taken. What is the reason for the tragedy to repeat itself with even more tragic consequences in almost the heart of Varna?
We are certain that the reason is bad management of the territory for years, as well as underestimation of the role of nature for the quality of human life. The only gully along which water from the hills up Asparuhovo district can reach the sea has been built up, and at the end turned into a street, which is the only passage for water to the sea. Part of the buildings may be illegal, but the other part, including the street, are on paper most probably completely legal. State officials and experts have signed the documents, which authorize these constructions, include them in the urban plan, while most likely guaranteeing that “there will be no harmful impact on the environment and people.” It is certain that for the most part of the construction, it is assessed that there will not be impacts on the environment, including people’s health. The woods on the hill slopes have been largely cut down – legally or not, maybe it will transpire. According to the institutions, probably the felling is also correct. Thus, though there is no dam and no dam wall, where responsibility can be thrown, the results are terrifying – with the absence of a natural buffer to receive the water, as well as the absence of a natural passage for the water to reach safely the sea, the raging waters sweep all in their way – cars, houses, people…
Usually, environmental organizations are charged with too much concern for nature at the expense of people. In our opinion, the basic problems which lead regularly to tragedies related with floods are:
1. Building-up in gullies and on river terraces, which naturally fill with water when it rains; Gullies are the natural “draining systems” in a given region when it rains profusely. Rivers take the excess waters. These are nature’s natural functions.
2. Filling up of gullies with the purpose of building roads or other building-up or for waste disposal.
3. Correcting rivers and putting them in concrete beds. Corrections annihilate natural places where rivers overflow and slow down water currents: The lack of such places leads to formation of high waters with significant power due to this that waters passage has been artificially corrected.
4. Cutting down of woods and bushes by the river, which stabilize river banks, in order to “clear the riverbed”. When, instead of clearing the riverbed from fallen trees and trash, river banks are laid bare, then water erosion and the possibility for rivers to get out of their bed and to destroy the surrounding terrains increase.
5. Building-up in landslide regions.
6. Massive felling in forests in mountain regions, including felling of forests on steep slopes. Forests are natural water containing factor and with no danger of “breaking through dikes”. However, when there is felling of forests, nothing can protect the laid bare soil from the water element, and water sweeps away everything.
7. Construction of dams, which are afterwards not maintained properly.
8. Ignoring the necessity of preserved natural areas, which would ensure that nature functions normally, and provides us protection from natural disasters. The urban plans and the procedures of environment impact assessment and environment assessment aim at achieving maximum building-up and neglecting the ecological functions of the ecosystems and the services they provide us.
9. The result is painful for everyone. The losses are usually for people who have no responsibility for the above actions. But maybe with the silence and inaction of all, as well as misunderstanding how important nature is to us, we allow the above actions to happen and to cause such tragedies. Shall we go on making mistakes!?