As part of the regional solidarity initiative under the European Solidarity Corps (ESC), the project titled “We Have to Prepare for Disasters Before Disasters!” has been launched with the support of the Turkish National Agency and under the coordination of Prof. Dr. Nevin Özdemir, faculty member at Ondokuz Mayıs University (OMU), Faculty of Education.
The ESC program provides young people aged 18–30 with the opportunity to develop projects. This project application was submitted by Dilek Tuğçe Küloğlu, Tuğçe Mavzer, Halenur Eren, Enis Arda Öztürk, and Gülşen Ocak.
Within the scope of the project, a three-day Disaster Awareness Training of Trainers program was held. The training program was conducted under the guidance of Çetin Çavuş, lead instructor from AFADEM in Ankara, and Project Coordinator Prof. Dr. Nevin Özdemir. At the end of the training, participants were assessed through written and oral exams. All participants successfully passed and received their instructor certificates.
Reflecting on the training, AFADEM instructor Çetin Çavuş stated:
“We must live with an awareness of the dangers and risks that may occur in all areas of life and take the necessary precautions. In this process, we must be conscious of our individual and collective responsibilities. By being sensitive to our living environment and creating a sense of societal solidarity, we should become part of the solution, not the problem.”
One of the participants, OMU Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Assistant Halithan Şen from the Department of Geography, emphasized:
“We live in a country where the frequency of disasters is very high. As a result, we suffer significant loss of life and property each year. To minimize the damages caused by disasters, awareness must be raised across all segments of society, starting from individuals. Through this training, we first developed our personal awareness, and then we earned our instructor certificates. Now it’s time to become disaster trainers and contribute to the vision of a ‘Disaster-Ready Türkiye.’”
Fatma Zehra Akgül, a student in OMU’s Psychological Counseling and Guidance program, shared her experience:
“We’re currently in Samsun for the ‘We Have to Prepare for Disasters Before Disasters!’ project. During this process, we participated in a variety of awareness-raising activities and seminars related to disaster preparedness. Our training was highly interactive, with both our instructor and peers actively engaged. I had fun and learned a lot. I’ve always wanted to contribute to awareness efforts, especially in connection with psychology, and now I’m officially a certified disaster awareness trainer. I would like to thank all my teammates and the project coordinators for this valuable experience.”
The training concluded with the presentation of certificates to the participants and a commemorative group photo.
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