Izmir Metropolitan Municipality is establishing teams of disaster volunteers in the neighborhoods to continue search and rescue efforts more effectively in the city after a possible earthquake. Teams of 293 people will be formed in 10 neighborhoods across Izmir. Volunteers will provide vital information to the authorities for a healthier search and rescue work in disasters.
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality continues its efforts to make the city, which is located in the first degree earthquake zone, resistant to disasters. While the Metropolitan Municipality continues earthquake research and risk reduction studies, it also raises citizens' awareness of disasters. In this context, Metropolitan, which implemented the Neighborhood Disaster Volunteers project, gave the first training at the Buca Semi-Olympic Swimming Pool Conference Hall. Volunteers were also informed about first aid.
“We have to be more conscious now”
Speaking at the opening of the meeting, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Secretary General Şükran Nurlu stated that the country has given a big test since 6 February and said, “We are all very sad. It hurts so much. It has passed, it is not possible to say let's look ahead. We are constantly questioning and thinking. We all know that nothing will ever be the same again, nor should it be. Now we have to be more conscious, more careful.”
People who know the building are very important
Expressing that everyone saw how the buildings collapsed in the earthquake zone, Şükran Nurlu said, “However, they were all homes. It became a pile of debris. In these earthquakes, we also understood how important it is to have someone who knows the building, knows the rooms of the houses in the building, can explain the layout, can tell how many people live in it, and knows more or less the age of the people," he said.
awareness raising
Referring to the importance of the Neighborhood Disaster Volunteers training, Nurlu said, “We will tell our volunteers what to do and not to do before, during and after the disaster. Until professional support arrives, we convey the simple but life-saving important work that should be done after it arrives. Our volunteers will tell what they have learned to different people in their neighborhoods and environments as ambassadors. In this way, more of our people will be conscious, and more lives will be saved in a possible disaster.”
What will the volunteer work be like?
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality will establish teams of 293 people in 10 neighborhoods in the first place. With the trainings to be given to the volunteers, the citizens will provide detailed information about the building and the neighborhood so that the search and rescue teams can continue their work in a healthy way after a possible disaster.