The earthquake drill, which was carried out under the coordination of Bitlis Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) and occurred with a magnitude of 6,2 according to the scenario, was held with the participation of 438 people.
Before the drill, a distribution of duties was made among the institution managers who came together at the AFAD Coordination Center after the earthquake. Following the coordination provided under the chairmanship of Bitlis Governor Ahmet Karakaya, the injured people trapped in two single-storey houses that collapsed in the earthquake were rescued by the teams and handed over to the health teams as per the scenario.
After the drill, Governor Ahmet Karakaya made a statement to reporters and stated that they carried out this drill with a team of 119 people, 438 of whom were search and rescue, and 22 vehicles. Karakaya said, “We had previously held meetings regarding the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Plan (İRAP) in our province and reviewed our preparations. Today, we put a Turkey Disaster Response Plan (TAMP) into practice both at the desk and in the field. Within the scope of this plan, we took action with our scenario of a 6,2 magnitude earthquake in the central Hüsrevpaşa Neighborhood. At this point, we first reviewed the evacuation of our schools. Then, we supervised the search and rescue efforts in the collapsed buildings. Our colleagues are under the coordination of AFAD for both search and rescue and other needed issues, and our other public institutions have search and rescue teams. Likewise, we have NGOs and volunteers. We are all working together to figure out how we can rescue our citizens from a disaster environment in the shortest time possible and direct them to their treatment. They quickly rescued our friend, who we assumed to be injured, from the collapsed building and we took him to the hospital by ambulance. Of course, disasters are a reality in the world and in our country. Although we pray that disasters do not happen, we have to be prepared for disasters. Being prepared for disasters has several dimensions. One of them is reducing the risk in a disaster. In other words, we have to be prepared in advance. But after a disaster, whether it is an earthquake, flood, landslide, avalanche, whatever the disaster is, the preparations made by the institutions in advance are very important. Today, we were in the field to check these efforts. We carried out our drill with a team of 119 people, 438 of whom were search and rescue, and 22 vehicles. I would like to thank everyone who contributed and participated in the drill,” he said.
Deputy Governor Alay Yazıcı, Gendarmerie Commander Brigadier General Zafer Tombul, Police Chief Ortaç Şekeroğlu, Deputy Mayor İbrahim Aslan, institution managers, NGO representatives and volunteers participated in the drill.
