Quake team established in risky city

TUNCELI

An earthquake team has been established at the juncture where the Eastern Anatolian Fault Line intersects with the North Anatolian Fault Line in Tunceli, an eastern province.

New measures were taken in Tunceli, where scientists constantly warn of earthquakes, and in this context, container cities were built against earthquakes.

During the deadly February earthquakes last year, teams consisting of police and gendarmerie units were established with the instruction of Tunceli Governor Bülent Tekbıyıkoğlu, who was also appointed as the “coordinator governor” by decree. A total of 1,600 personnel started to receive earthquake training. In this context, a drill was also carried out.

For the drill, a building in the city center was demolished and debris areas and tracks were created. With the start of the drill, some teams quickly moved to the area where the building collapsed with their vehicles and provided coordination. Afterwards, general control, physical search, dog and device search and debris work with tools were carried out.

Stating that the earthquake threatens almost all of Anatolia, Tekbıyıkoğlu said, "We need to show all our strength to struggle against this threat. There is another fault line that threatens our region. Some scientists are trying to explain in the press that it has not yet broken and that the probability of it breaking is high."

“There is also an unbroken fault line between the eastern provinces of Erzincan and Bingöl. We think that before the threat arrives, something can be done with the capacity of our province,” he stated.

"We have more gendarmerie and police presence than other provinces. A total of 1,600 people from our security forces are ready, and we have created a professional search and rescue unit. We demolished the old governor's mansion and designated it as an exercise area. We will keep repeating trainings every three months,” the governor said.

“We will continue these drills even if there are transfers and assignments. The Interior Ministry focuses a lot on this issue. As a result of the negotiations, we will create new tracks, and Tunceli will become the center of search and rescue training,” he concluded.

The sensitivity to earthquakes has increased after the devastating temors in early February last year centered in the southeastern province of Kahramanmaraş. A panel discussion titled "Facing the earthquake risk, conscious society, safe future ”was held in the eastern province of Elazığ.