Non-Governmental Organizations that went to the region from Kocaeli and carried out search-rescue and aid activities during the February 6 Kahramanmaraş earthquake, the disaster of the century, came together at the Kocaeli Congress Center. In the program held on the anniversary of the earthquake, the pain experienced was shared and prayers were read for those who lost their lives. In the program, Kazım Budak, who took a work machine to the region by covering the 13-hour journey in 9 hours despite the weather conditions, explained his experiences with tears. Speaking after Budak, Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tahir Büyükakın said, "What people need most at this time is compassion." In addition to Mayor Büyükakın, AK Party Kocaeli Provincial Chairman Şahin Talus, BBP Kocaeli Provincial Coordinator Metehan Küpçü and NGO representatives attended the program.
Mayor Büyükakın said, “Uncle Kazim is just one of the examples that tells the story of our friends in this hall. 97 associations gathered here today. Some are aid organizations, some are search and rescue, some are citizens' associations... They are here today and were there that day. When the news of the earthquake came, they all ran. It rained in Kocaeli and that region. "At one point, we even had difficulty directing the aid trucks there," he said.
“THE INCIDENT WAS ALSO PSYCHOLOGY MANAGEMENT”
Mayor Büyükakın said, “When we first went, our teams mainly carried out search and rescue work. While we were setting up the tents, we also consoled the worried eyes watching us. We reminded them that we experienced the August 17 earthquake. We explained that we would get through this process together by putting things in order. When we set up the tent city, their faces started smiling a little more when they took their first shower. When we built a park for our children, they were happier. "The incident was also a psychological management," he said.
315 THOUSAND BUILDINGS WILL BE SCANNED
"It is our duty to establish a system that will overcome the earthquake with the least loss," said Mayor Büyükakın, adding, "We formed a delegation together with Kocaeli University, Gebze Technical University and chambers. With this delegation, we started to carry out earthquake-related studies in Kocaeli. There are 315 thousand buildings in Kocaeli. 160 thousand of these buildings were built before the Marmara Earthquake. 250 thousand buildings were built before 2007. First of all, we created an agreement to scan these 250 thousand buildings. We scanned all the ones before 2007. We moved all of these to the digital environment. "We have the ground maps," he said.
IT'S NOT THE EARTHQUAKE, IT'S THE BUILDINGS THAT KILL
Mayor Büyükakın used the following statements in his speech: “We wish mercy to those who lost their lives in the earthquake. But people shouldn't die because a building collapsed in my country. I am proud of the sacrifice and heroism of my people. Without these, we would not have been able to fight the War of Independence under impossibilities. But earthquakes don't kill, buildings do. Then we need to prepare. We need to roll up our sleeves and take action quickly. "We made scientific preparations."
CORPORATE MEMORY IS REQUIRED AFTER DISASTER
''On the anniversaries of the earthquake, we should pray for 5 minutes for those who lost their lives and recite Fatihas. But most of the rest of the time we should talk about what we've done in the past year. One of the things we did was to establish the Department of Disaster Affairs. An institutional memory is required to manage the aftermath of a disaster. No state can act alone in a major disaster. Non-governmental organizations have a big role. That's why Kocaeli needs to establish an all-out local disaster volunteers organization. Our Disaster Affairs Department was established to meet the establishment, organization, training activities and equipment needs of these structures.”
