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Background
On 17 August 1999,
an earthquake of 7.4 on the Richter scale lasting 45
seconds, with its epicentre at Golcuk, hit the Marmara
region of North Western Turkey. Then on 12 November
1999, while recovery operations were still under way,
a second earthquake of 7.2 on the Richter scale, with
its epicenter at Duzce struck in the same region. In
total these two earthquakes seriously affected an area
mainly concentrated in 5 provinces (Kocaeli, Sakarya,
Yalova, Bolu and Duzce), covering an area of 21,444
Km2, including 42 districts, 124 municipalities and
1,602 villages with a combined population of 2,626,177
(based on the 1997 Census).
The
human cost of these earthquakes was extremely high.
Based on the latest figures from the Disaster Region
Coordinators office (31 March 2000) 17,255 people lost
their lives, 23,781 were seriously injured and 505 were
permanently physically or psychologically disabled.
In addition to the human loss, and adding to the trauma
of the survivors, 38,8942 buildings totally collapsed
or were so badly damaged as to require demolition. 283,240
housing units and 41,160 commercial units sustained
some degree of damage.
The Role of
Volunteers
During emergency
humanitarian response to the earthquake, volunteers
played an important role in assisting the earthquake
victims, both through their support to the local governments,
as well as through their work within international and
national non-governmental organisations. Much of the
voluntary action seemed to have been spontaneous, informal
and unstructured.
Within the framework
of UN support to national reconstruction efforts, a
temporary UNDP Coordination Office was set up in Kocaeli
in December 1999, with 2 other antenna offices in Yalova
and Adapazari, as well as one liason office to serve
Bolu and Duzce. As it was decided that it will be useful
to utilise the services of young national volunteers
for the activities of these offices, a national UNV
scheme was established and implemented for the first
time in Turkey, with the assistance and support of UNV
Headquarters.
Nine national
UNVs were recruited and worked for five months with
the substantive back stopping and coordination of a
field coordinator and the programming/administrative
support of the UNDP Country Office. The main target
of the UNV team was to establish a solid information
gathering system that would facilitate the identification
of pipeline projects for UNDP and in this way, to anchore
UNDP`s presence in the earthquake stricken area.
At the end of
their assignment period, the national UNV team prepared
a comprehensive report which serves as a useful tool
for future planning in disaster management related activities
of UNDP, as well as providing the basis for identifying
the areas of cooperation with the national and international
aid organisations on related issues.
The Antennas have
been unique in that they have been manned with National
United Nations Volunteers (NUNV). Utilisation of the
National UNV modality has contributed immensely to the
success of UNDP's operations in response to this disaster.
Similarly, we feel that exposure to the UN system and
to the concept of voluntarism has significantly contributed
to the career development and empowerment of the young
Turkish Volunteers.
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