The Metropolitan Municipality, under the leadership of Mayor Yusuf Alemdar, has taken a critical step for disaster preparedness. The neighborhood-based radio network to be established in Sakarya with the cooperation of SAKRAD and the Mukhtars Federation will bring hope to hundreds of thousands of people in the event of a possible earthquake. Speaking at the workshop of the project supported by the European Union called “Communicate with Radio, Choose Disaster Preparedness,” Mayor Alemdar said, “Radio communication that will be activated in the event of a disaster can be the key to uninterrupted communication.”
Uninterrupted communication network in case of disaster
The disaster preparedness activities carried out under the leadership of the Metropolitan Municipality and Sakarya Wireless and Radio Amateurs Electronic Communication Association (SAKRAD) “Communicate with Radio, Choose Disaster Preparedness” The project was funded by the European Union (EU) and was awarded support under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) “Civic Participation Grant Programme”. A critical step is being taken in Sakarya to ensure that citizens can communicate without interruption in times of earthquakes, fires, landslides, floods and any other disaster that may come to mind.
The most important actors are the muhtars
Within the scope of the project, which aims to establish an uninterrupted communication network between local governments, neighborhood headmen, public institutions, non-governmental organizations and amateur radio operators, all stakeholders came together at a hotel in Adapazarı.
Emphasis on accurate and reliable communication information flow
Amateur radio operators discussed developing the capacity to communicate without interruption during disasters and laid out plans to ensure accurate and reliable information flow.
In addition to President Yusuf Alemdar, Anadolu University President Prof. Dr. Yusuf Adıgüzel, Deputy Secretary General Ziya Cevherli, Strategy Development Department Director Veysel Çıplak, Sakarya Wireless and Radio Amateurs Electronic Communication Association (SAKRAD) President Gürel Özbakış, Sakarya Mukhtars Federation President Erdal Erdem, Başarsoft Information Technologies CEO Alim Küçükpehlivan, Medipol University Assistant Professor Betül Ok Şehitoğlu, municipality representatives, NGO representatives, mukhtars, and metropolitan bureaucrats attended the program.
“Wireless communication could be the key to uninterrupted communication”
Emphasizing that this project will greatly facilitate immediate interventions in times of disasters, President Alemdar said, “This is a very beneficial work especially for our province and region. As people who have experienced disasters and earthquakes and paid the price for this, we need to do our analysis very well. Radio communication that will be activated in times of disasters may be the key to uninterrupted communication. Work to be carried out before a disaster will facilitate immediate interventions in times of disasters. If you cannot be where you need to be on time and on time, the cost is unfortunately heavy. We need to take action before disasters happen and establish an uninterrupted communication network.”
“We will encourage alternative communication channels in times of disaster”
Alemdar also stated that they applied to the ministry level for the purchase of emergency containers for 38 large neighborhoods of Sakarya and said, “Our city is in the earthquake zone. We set out with a more socially resilient and green city approach. We have to create the future of our children and theirs. We are rapidly continuing our work in this sense. We will encourage the use of alternative communication channels in disaster response with the “Communicate by Radio, Choose Disaster Preparedness” project supported within the scope of the Civil Participation Grant Program. Our concern has always been to keep our people alive. We are starting the transformation from Tığcılar. We want to prevent loss of life by preparing our city for an earthquake as soon as possible.”
“In times of disaster, three requirements come to the fore…”
Head of Strategy Development Department Veysel Çıplak said, “Three basic needs arise during a disaster. The first is uninterrupted disaster communication based on accurate, reliable data, the second is disaster logistics for the effective management and direction of humanitarian aid that will meet people’s needs, and the last is disaster governance that will ensure the participation of volunteers.”
“We know very well what happened in 1999”
Sakarya Wireless and Radio Amateurs Electronic Communications Association (SAKRAD) President Gürel Özbakış said, “We are happy to be in such a study with our Metropolitan Municipality. As you know, we are in a first-degree earthquake zone. We know very well what we experienced in the 1999 earthquake. This project of ours is very important in terms of ensuring communication between the public and the public during disasters. I hope again that our program will be beneficial.”
“We were working on the communication problem during the earthquake”
Sakarya Mukhtars Federation President Erdal Erdem said: “As Sakarya mukhtars, we experienced the 1999 earthquake firsthand. We have been working on the lack of communication that emerged during the February 6 earthquake for a long time. Today, we are implementing a very important program to solve this communication problem. First of all, I would like to thank our President Yusuf Alemdar and all stakeholders.”
Neighborhood-based communication network
Project officials pointed out that the first response in times of disaster will begin at the neighborhood level, stressed that muhtars are the most important actors in determining local needs and ensuring uninterrupted communication, and said that the neighborhood-based radio communication network should be expanded.
