Istanbul set to keep alert for disasters

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Firefighters try to put of a fire in a tent during simulations. AA photo

Istanbul’s Bahçelievler municipality hosted a field exercise yesterday to keep the related municipal units alert for a possible natural disaster with the participation of 10 other municipalities and the Istanbul Governorship.

The field exercise’s main focus was to guarantee that potential victims of natural disasters such as floods, fires and earthquakes, would be able to instantly find the necessary state support at the allocated Tent Site No. 9, which was the setting of the field exercise.

The legal framework foresees every municipality allocating some open space within its boundaries to be used as a tent site in the event of an emergency. The Bahçelievler municipality has nine such outdoor areas. Municipality officials said Tent Site No. 9 had been solely allocated for the establishment of municipal and governmental institutions, which are expected to provide citizens with aid and support. The site will be hosting the Turkish Red Crescent, the Istanbul Waterworks, the fire brigade, a hospital, education facilities, nourishment services, as well as tents to host the delivery of services allowing citizens to take care of their personal hygiene in the event of a disaster.

Bahçelievler municipality’s Search and Rescue Unit was also present with a large team, which staged two real-time rescue simulations.

The participating municipalities will each be hosting similar field exercises in the following term. These municipalities are the Fatih, Zeytinburnu, Bakırköy, Avcılar, Küçükcekmece, Büyükcekmece, Silivri, Esenyurt, Bağcılar and Güngören districts of Istanbul.