Joint disaster training exercise with personnel from the Directorate of Religious Affairs and volunteers from the Turkish Religious Foundation

Personnel from the Directorate of Religious Affairs and volunteers from the Turkish Religious Foundation (TDV) conducted a disaster training exercise at the simulation center of the Ankara Governorship’s Provincial Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate.

As part of the goal of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) to reach 100,000 people to engage in search and rescue activities by the end of 2024, TDV volunteers and personnel from the Directorate of Religious Affairs participated in a training exercise at the simulation center. Bünyamin Kahraman, General Director of the Management Services of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, also followed the exercise on-site.

“We will strive to become a professional and international team”
Onur İnan, Senior Specialist of TDV’s Charity Services, expressed that the team formation is based on volunteerism. He stated, “We have drawn a process map through our active teams involved in search and rescue. Within this process map, we informed our teams and ensured that volunteers were identified first. We created the training conditions here today by making plans that would also ensure their personal safety with our volunteer friends and by procuring materials. The team we have established is receiving training from earthquake search and rescue instructors from our foundation and our directorate. In the long term, we will strive to complete the accreditation classes designated by AFAD, starting with light and then medium accreditation, to become a professional and international team.”

“We have the equipment and capability to provide food for 10,000 people in one meal”
İnan mentioned that the Directorate of Religious Affairs and the Turkish Religious Foundation have established a search and rescue team of 324 personnel across 11 provinces. He said, “As part of the project initiated by AFAD to train 100,000 search and rescue personnel by the end of 2024, we are receiving training here. A team of 35 personnel from the central organization of our directorate and from our foundation is receiving earthquake search and rescue training. After these trainings, we aim to become a professional team by starting the accreditation processes. We also aim to accelerate the process in provincial organizations and establish a search and rescue team of 2,200 people across 81 provinces. Our foundation has made significant progress in disaster-related activities since the Elazığ earthquake in 2020. With 20 catering vehicles and 3 mobile kitchens, we have the equipment and capability to provide food for 10,000 people in one meal.”