ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s Disaster Management Authority (AFAD) is tasked with coordinating search, rescue and aid efforts in response to earthquakes, floods, forest fires and other emergencies. [L1N34Q1CN]
HISTORY
A 1999 earthquake, which killed more than 17,000 people, marked a turning point in Turkey’s approach to natural disasters. The government said it prioritized reform of construction regulations and disaster management.
AFAD was established in 2009 as a centre for disaster management and coordination.
The organization acts as the main link between government institutions and NGOs to coordinate search, rescue and aid efforts inside Turkey, as well as Ankara’s international relief operations.
Originally, AFAD fell under the prime minister’s office, under then-premier Tayyip Erdogan. It was switched to the interior ministry when Turkey moved to an executive presidency in 2018, with Erdogan as head of state.
AFAD is also tasked with coordinating fundraising efforts in the aftermath of natural disasters.
The organization established an earthquake research programme aimed at improving preparedness and reducing risk from temblors.
PERSONNEL
AFAD had 7,323 personnel across Turkey’s 81 provinces in 2022, according to an interior ministry report. The number of AFAD volunteers rose to more than 600,000 last year, up from 51,000 in 2019.
However, AFAD trained just 53,750 of the 250,000 volunteers it had aimed for in 2021. Last year, the organisation aimed to train only 200,000 volunteers, and halved the number to 100,000 in 2023.
BUDGET
AFAD’s budget for 2023 shrank by a third to 8.08 billion lira ($429 million), down from 12.16 billion lira in 2022. Meanwhile, the budgets of the bodies it helps coordinate – including the police and coast guard – were boosted.
OPERATIONS
AFAD teams handled some 5,300 disasters in 2022 including a mining disaster in the western Black Sea region, forest fires in the west, and flash floods and earthquakes, the report said.
AFAD teams, coordinating efforts with NGOs and other institutions, were the main response units to a 2020 quake that struck the city of Izmir on the Aegean sea killing more than 100 people, as well as devastating floods in the northern Black Sea region in 2021.
AFAD has established and trained coordination teams in the police, gendarmerie and rangers and provincial support teams to boost its capacity when needed for disaster response.
Outside Turkey, it provided aid worth $11.4 million to 12 countries last year, according to interior ministry data. In Syria, AFAD has coordinated humanitarian efforts in regions controlled by Turkish forces and allied Syrian fighters.
GROWING PROFILE
AFAD has become more prominent in the last few years, launching emergency apps people can use to report incidents and compiling action plans for different scenarios.
Since Monday’s earthquake, AFAD received more than 100,000 applications and now has more than 700,000 volunteers, Idris Varli, field coordinator of its volunteer department, told state broadcaster TRT.
AFAD deploys all volunteers, even those without the usual field training, in large level 4 disasters such as the latest earthquake, Varli said.
($1 = 18.8308 liras)
(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Daniel Flynn)
