VZCZCXRO4588
RR RUEHAST
DE RUEHAK #3436/01 1611916
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 101916Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6470
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 0853
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0768
RHEBAAA/DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 003436 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PLEASE PASS TO USGS FOR MFOOSE AND ESAFAK 
USAID FOR OFDA 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID SENV EINV TU
SUBJECT:  TURKEY'S DISASTER MANAGEMENT - UNTESTED - SLOWLY 
MATURING 
 
REF: A) ISTANBUL 693 
 
B) 05 ANKARA 6077 
C) 05 ANKARA 497 
 
ANKARA 00003436  001.3 OF 003 
 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified.  Please handle accordingly. 
 
This cable was coordinated with Istanbul Consulate General 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: After the devastating 1999 Marmara 
earthquake in Turkey, the World Bank made recovery loans 
contingent on broad changes in Turkey's building codes and 
disaster management mechanisms.  This included creation of a 
"Turkish Emergency Management Directorate" (TEMAD), which 
was established in 2000.  Although Turkey's disaster 
preparation and planning has clearly improved since the 
earthquake, responsibility is still shared by a variety of 
players, and TEMAD is still relatively new and untested in 
its critical coordinating role for a multitude of local, 
provincial, and national players.  Showing its intent to be 
serious, this year TEMAD organized a national level disaster 
simulation exercise and co-sponsored (with USAID OFDA) an 
international disaster assistance conference in Istanbul. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) BACKGROUND: Turkey is highly vulnerable to a major 
earthquake, especially the population mass centered around 
Istanbul and the Marmara Sea.  Turkey's response to the 
August 1999 - 7.4 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 
17,000 people was widely criticized as slow, insufficient, 
and uncoordinated.  As a consequence, the World Bank's 
Marmara Earthquake Emergency Reconstruction Project (MEER, 
2000-2004) required the establishment of the Turkish 
Emergency Management Directorate (TEMAD or TAY in Turkish) 
under the Prime Ministry, along with other changes in 
building codes and regulation. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
TEMAD Still in its Infancy - can it really coordinate? 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) TEMAD was created under 2000 legislation, but has 
slowly been gaining competence and authority.  A 2005 law 
assigned it the critical role of coordinating national 
national disaster response (Refs B and C), but its resources 
and personnel remain limited.  For the moment located in 
cramped offices downtown, TEMAD plans to move to a new 
crisis coordination center outside Ankara's center at the 
end of this year.  As a result of the 1999 earthquake, there 
are now a variety of new and old crisis centers operating at 
the local and national levels, which will all in turn 
require overall national coordination, the role assigned to 
TEMAD.  TEMAD's director Hasan Ipek is viewed as experienced 
and competent, but his limited staff lacks deep experience. 
Ipek and his staff like to use the metaphor that the 
organization is still taking its "baby steps" and welcomes 
assistance of more mature organizations like the U.S. FEMA. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) TEMAD and USAID OFDA co-hosted a recent high-level 
conference on international cooperation among "emerging 
donors" for disaster relief and assistance in Istanbul (Ref 
A).  Turkey's hosting and co-chairing the conference was a 
clear symbol of the importance it attaches to increasing its 
regional and international role in disaster assistance. 
USAID's counterpart organization Turkish International 
Cooperation Administration (TIKA), which coordinates 
Turkey's response to disasters outside Turkey, like last 
year's Pakistan earthquake, also helped organize the 
conference. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
Locality and Province Bear First Responsibility - Istanbul 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Under Turkey's disaster plans, in the event of a 
disaster the provincial governor bears first responsibility 
for response and recovery, and serves as chairman at a local 
crisis center.  Depending on the scale of the disaster and 
response effort, national resources can be mobilized. 
Bearing a unique threat because of its seismology and 
population, the Istanbul Municipality established its AKOM 
(Disaster Coordination Center), modeled after a comparable 
center in Los Angeles, after the 1999 earthquake.  On a 
recent visit by Embassy and Consulate General Officers, AKOM 
Director Necdet Berber proudly showed off the center's video 
 
ANKARA 00003436  002.3 OF 003 
 
 
screens (attached to 10 cameras in the municipality) and 
communication equipment.  He said the Japanese International 
Cooperation Agency (JICA) had worked closely with AKOM and 
police, fire department, and other services in augmenting 
communication capacity and planning for reducing casualties 
and improving response.  Municipalities bear direct 
responsibilities for disaster planning, prevention, and 
preparedness activities on the local level.  The Istanbul 
Municipality worked with local universities to produce a 
comprehensive Earthquake Master Plan for Istanbul in 2005. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The Istanbul Deputy Governor has overall regional 
responsibility for disaster coordination.  On a recent visit 
to the Governor's Office, the Deputy Governor's crisis 
center looked much more modest and makeshift compared to the 
municipality's flashy new AKOM.  A TEMAD Rep said his 
organization had undertaken a project with the Istanbul 
Governorship to upgrade the crisis center and communication 
capacity.  Both the Governorship and Municipality are also 
working on long-term challenges of rehabilitating buildings 
and enforcing earthquake resistant codes (also resulting 
from the 1999 earthquake). 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Another unique resource in Istanbul is the 
Kandilli Earthquake Research Institute, which is a key 
component of global seismic sensing networks, including 115 
sensing stations in Turkey organized in cooperation with 
USGS.  The center is working on an Istanbul Earthquake Rapid 
Response and Early Warning System, still in its testing 
phase, that aims to give rapid warning of significant 
seismic activity to major utilities and to provide quick 
damage assessment data. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
National Key Actors - TEMAD and its Coordination Partners 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Under the umbrella of the Prime Ministry, TEMAD 
acts as the national central coordinating body for natural 
disaster preparedness for all relevant government bodies. 
TEMAD is also tasked to coordinate receipt and distribution 
of relief supplies from voluntary agencies.  In the event of 
a serious national disaster, an ad hoc Crisis Coordination 
Board would be formed under the chairmanship of the Prime 
Minister, with TEMAD as Secretariat, and including 
representatives of relevant ministries depending on the 
nature of the crisis. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The General Directorate of Civil Defense under the 
Ministry of the Interior maintains its own crisis planning 
and center.  One of its primary functions would be search 
and rescue missions.  The Police and Gendarmerie would play 
a key role in any emergency, including responding to a major 
terrorist attack.  TEMAD would not be assigned 
responsibility for a terrorist incident. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The General Directorate of Disaster Affairs at 
the Ministry of Public Works and Settlement is responsible 
for risk mitigation measures in disaster prone areas and 
enforcement of building codes, preparedness (precautions for 
disaster shelter), and recovery (resettlement and 
reconstruction of housing for victims). 
 
¶11.  (SBU) The General Directorate of the Turkish Red 
Crescent (TRC) has responsibility for organizing rapid 
disaster response and assisting in the delivery of 
international and national humanitarian aid.  TRC has 
rebuilt itself after most of its management faced charges of 
irregularities in public tenders and abuse of office in the 
wake of the 1999 earthquake.  TRC opened a new Emergency 
Operations Center (AFOM) outside of Ankara, modeled after 
the American Red Cross' Disaster Operations Center in Falls 
Church, Virginia. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The Turkish Armed Forces can provide military 
assets in support of immediate response and humanitarian 
activities, as occurred in the initially weak GOT response 
to the 1999 earthquake.  The National Security Council plays 
a key role in coordinating domestic and military resources 
for security.  The Ministry of Health would provide medical 
and first aid support, including mobile emergency treatment 
units.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has its own crisis 
management center and is the first point of contact for the 
international community on damage and needs.  MFA also 
 
ANKARA 00003436  003.3 OF 003 
 
 
provides coordination on the transportation of international 
relief aid. 
 
-------------------------------- 
COMMENT: Can They Work Together? 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶13.  (SBU) The key question is how well these disparate 
entities (with their own structures, budgets, and agendas) 
can work together.  Although created in 2000, TEMAD was 
effectively started only in 2003 with a modest budget and 
presence, and received full legal authorization only last 
year.  TEMAD has organized regular training and disaster 
simulations to facilitate pre-disaster planning and 
coordination among critical agencies, holding a first 
national scale simulation in February, using a 23-day 
virtual scenario - over two days real time - and involving 
four Marmara Sea provinces.  TEMAD designed and supported 
the exercise, which was hosted by the National Security 
Council.  The MFA Disaster Officer told Embassy Officer that 
this simulation was highly useful in testing critical needs, 
particularly in communication.  According to TEMAD, lessons 
learned included the need for more training, redundancies in 
communication, and protocols on how to communicate in a 
crisis.  TEMAD aims to design and implement annual large- 
scale simulations, including actual field exercises, like 
Director Hasan Ipek conducted as former Deputy Governor in 
Izmir (one involving 80,000 people). 
 
Wilson