VZCZCXRO5455
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAK #0491/01 0641349
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051349Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1206
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1707
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 2251
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1545
RHEBAAA/DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000491 
 
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: PROGRESS IN TURKEY'S EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE 
 
REF: A) ANKARA 6624 
B) ANKARA 3436 
 
ANKARA 00000491  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified.  Please handle accordingly. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: A visiting U.S. team was impressed by the level 
of commitment and sophistication in emergency planning evidenced in 
a range of meetings with national-level disaster assistance players 
in the Turkish capital.  FEMA and OFDA committed to follow up with 
the Turkish Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) on a tailored 
training on emergency coordination for 4-6 young professionals.  USG 
provided training would help empower TEMA in the Turkish disaster 
response structure where it has been slow to gain experience and 
authority.  End Summary. 
 
----------------------------------- 
FEMA-OFDA Training Targeted at TEMA 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Bonnie Butler from the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
(FEMA), Robert Andrew from OFDA, and Dewey Perks from Fairfax Search 
and Rescue met Turkish counterpart agencies March 1-2 in Ankara. 
Turkish Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) DG Hasan Ipek emphasized 
that his organization was modeled after the U.S. FEMA and sought 
training of 4-6 young professionals in emergency management and 
coordination.  The FEMA and OFDA reps agreed to follow up with TEMA 
and the Embassy to arrange a set of training and site-visits to fill 
out a tailored 1-2 month program.  Although FEMA had implemented 
"trainer of trainer" programs at Istanbul Technical University after 
the 1999 earthquakes, all agreed that FEMA should target direct 
training at TEMA to renew contacts and empower their relatively new 
status in the Turkish structure. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Ipek noted that TEMA was relatively young, having been 
established as a condition of World Bank credit to Turkey in the 
aftermath of the earthquakes. It was still having difficulty 
asserting its authority over the many entrenched bureaucracies that 
play a role in disaster response. The TEMA DG explained that 
disaster response lay first with the Provincial Governors.  Upon a 
request for outside help from the central government, TEMA would 
step into the coordinating role with establishment of an ad hoc 
crisis coordination center at the Prime Ministry with TEMA serving 
as the operational secretariat.  FEMA Training Officer Bonnie Butler 
noted that FEMA replaced twenty stove-piped agencies, all with 
different cultures, and it had taken a long time for FEMA to come 
into its own.  She highlighted the importance of planning, 
exercising, and socializing among disaster assistance peers. 
 
------------------------------ 
Turkish Red Crescent - Kizilay 
------------------------------ 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The Director General of the Turkish Red Crescent Society 
(TRCS), Omer Tasli, emphasized Turkey's dual bottom-up and 
center-driven approach. He noted that TRCS was prominent at all 
levels.  Because of its reputation, expertise, and popularity with 
the Turkish public, it enjoys ample funding.  TRCS was active in 
international relief (Pakistan, Indonesia, Lebanon, etc.) and would 
be a key player in a domestic event.  It would be the lead for blood 
supply service and has special strengths in mobile medical clinics. 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Tasli emphasized the importance of TEMA in the national 
coordinating structure, noting that it was set up at World Bank 
insistence and modeled after U.S. FEMA.  Tasli said that TRSC 
believed in the post-1999 system and saw TEMA as the critical 
umbrella disaster manager in the Turkish structure.  Still, parts of 
the government and public continued to look to the TRCS for the 
initial response to a disaster.  Tasli cited the recent floods in 
Batman in the Southeast; when the Governor immediately called 
Kizilay, he encouraged him to talk first to TEMA. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
A Competing Stove-Pipe: Housing Disaster Affairs 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Ministry of Housing and Resettlement Disaster Affairs 
Director General Mustafa Taymaz emphasized that his Directorate had 
two key roles: 1) minimizing risk and disaster prevention in 
Turkey's building stock and 2) minimizing the impact of a disaster, 
including provision of temporary shelter.  Noting that TEMA sat at 
the top of the coordinating structure, he said that his office gave 
technical assistance.  He admitted that Turkey's disaster structure 
 
ANKARA 00000491  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
was in flux.  Taymaz said his office had responsibility for creating 
and enforcing building earthquake standards and improving 
construction quality.  He noted that his Directorate had a strong 
regional and local presence that could be drawn on for prevention, 
mitigation, and response.  Taymaz described the seismic sensing 
network that had been significantly boosted after 1999.  He said 
that his office was busy on a new program for city risk maps.  With 
research from more recent earthquakes in Erzincan and Bingol, Taymaz 
said that his agency was working on public awareness and 
auditing/enforcement, clearly challenges in Turkey.  Taymaz said 
that a new pending regulation, which would embody World Bank 
support, would create greater requirements for retrofit of existing 
building stock, an expensive, but important challenge. 
 
------------- 
Civil Defense 
------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Yet another experienced and historic structure with a 
strong local-level presence is the Ministry of Interior's Civil 
Defense Directorate.  International Relations Department Head Ahmet 
Hamdi Usta cited extensive changes post-1999, mainly entailing 
increasing regional capacity for search and rescue.  He said that 
Civil Defense had a presence in all 850 Districts and 81 Provinces, 
as well as 11 SAR units (each with 120 personnel with various 
functions) positioned in different regions.  Usta noted that in an 
emergency, the Ministry of Interior could draw on uniformed 
Jandarma, Border Security, and National Security Units, which 
maintained special ties to the TGS.  Usta said that Ankara had a 
30-meter square "shaking table", used for research and training. 
The Civil Defense officer described the importance of the Provincial 
Governor (a representative of Interior) in the disaster response and 
mitigation, noting that he could call on all local assets to assist. 
 As almost an afterthought he mentioned the role of TEMA, but in a 
telling comment characterized it as focused more on international 
coordination (a facet which TEMA downplays).  Usta said there had 
been a proliferation of civil and volunteer SAR organizations which 
would be coordinated by Civil Defense in a disaster. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) MFA International Organizations Department Head Ali Riza 
Ozcoskun said MFA strongly supported TEMA in its coordinating role. 
He noted that TEMA performing its coordinating function in 
inter-agency exercises, including with TGS, would help reinforce 
their role.  Ozcoskun said that starting this year TEMA would take 
over the role from the NSC for organizing national exercises. 
Ozcoskun said that MFA would be the primary interlocutor for 
international partners in a disaster relief effort.  He emphasized 
that the MFA would immediately waive visa requirements for 
international relief workers.  Ozcoskun expressed strong support for 
FEMA-OFDA providing training to TEMA to build its expertise and 
empowerment. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) COMMENT: The visiting FEMA-OFDA team was impressed by the 
level of commitment, capacity, planning, and sophistication among 
Turkish agencies.  Continued exercises and training will help 
clarify and project TEMA's disaster management and coordination 
role.  FEMA and OFDA are very interested in providing training to 
contribute to TEMA's expertise and to deepen the relationship 
between the two institutions, also contributing to our bilateral 
strategic relationship.  TEMA, Civil Defense, and TGS intend to 
participate in the U.S. Military Flexible Leader simulation of a 
disaster befalling Izmir, Turkey, which will augment our contacts 
and understanding of Turkey's disaster response. 
 
Wilson