Bekir Kemal Ataman's Involvement in Disaster Preparedness

The earthquakes in August and November 1999 changed the lives of many people in Turkey. Especially seeing the inability of the state in helping people made quite a few people think twice. So I decided to learn all that I can, so that I can be of more help the next time (God forbid) a disaster strikes. Following is a list of what I have learnt with this purpose.

Emergency Medical Technician Training (November 1999-May 2000)
At Marmara University, Office of Health, Culture and Sports

Scene and patient assesment
Splinting and bandaging
Spinal immobilization
Airway obstruction
Rescue breathing
Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
Loss of consciousness
Shocks
Fractures
Bleeding
Skin Burns
Poisoning
Drowning
Blood pressure
Recovery
Lifting and carrying techniques
First aid kit

Search and Rescue Training - April 2000
At Civil Defence Organization of Turkey

Various knots
Descending
Sliding on a rope
First aid
Rescuing in

Earthquakes
Fire
Flood

Operating technical equipment

Chain saws
Power drills
Electric generators
Cutter/separator sets
Air cushions for lifting
Search Cams
Audio Tracking/Locating sets
Ascenders and descenders

HAM Radio (CEPT Class 2 License) - May 2000; (CEPT Class 1 License) - November 2004
Training at Turkish Radio Amateurs Club (TRAC) and licence certification by Telecommunications Institution (TK) of Turkey.

Operating
Legislation
Electronics
Morse (in May 2002)

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training - September 2001
(Based on FEMA's CERT training.) 80 hours; at Search and Rescue Society (AKUT).

Types of disasters

Earthquakes
Floods
Heavy snow
Dangerous materials

Fire fighting

Flammable liquids
Combustible materials

Triage
Vital medical help

Fractures
Bleeding
Skin burns
Hypothermia
Frost bites

Basic medical check-up
Setting up an operation area
Public health and hygene
Light search and rescue

Planning
Evaluation
Search
Rescue

Lifting and supporting concrete blocks
Disaster psychology
Team organization

Seafarers' Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW '95) (September 2002)
At Seafarers Union of Turkey

Fire prevention and fighting
First aid
Personal survival
Personnel safety and social responsibility.

Advanced Fire Fighting Techniques (January 2003)
At Istanbul Technical University's Maritime Faculty
Including fire supression practice.

Fire suppression Techniques (September 2003)
At Istanbul Fire Brigade's Fire Fighting School

Structure and development of fire
Types of extinguishing agents and how to use extinguishers
Natural gas and LPG
Dangers at the fire place
Fire fighting equipment and breathing apparatus
Rescue and first aid
Fire prevention and organization
Fire supression practice

Fundamentals of Emergency Management Training (March 2004)
5 days; at Istanbul Technical University, Centre of Excellence for Disaster Management [Based on FEMA's training programmes]

Causes and types of emergency situations
Emergency management and planning
Disaster preparedness and contingency planning
Disaster exercise and practice planning

Needless to say I am heavily involved with the fire brigade as a volunteer fireman, with the civil defence organisation as an emergency radio communications operator, as well as several other organisations in Turkey as a search and rescue volunteer. Since 2007, I am heavily involved in emergency communications. I have organized and taught, together with my friends, more than 2200 people on the topic. You can find a list of our activities in this area at http://www.tcswat.org/activities/EmComm/index.html

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This page was created in March 2001 and was last modified on 27/September/2007 by Bekir Kemal Ataman, webadmin '*at*' archimac.org. It is located at http://www.archimac.org/BKANV/Disaster.html.