May 3, 2024-GTU Office of Press and Public Relations
Under the READY4DISasters project, which is ongoing under the coordination of Gebze Technical University, an International Training Program in cooperation with the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality (KBB) Fire Department and the Kocaeli Provincial Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye (Kocaeli AFAD) has been organized as a significant project outcome. On the first day of the training, the opening speeches were made by the Director of Kocaeli AFAD, Mehmet Emin Koçan, KBB Fire Department Head Ömer İslamoğlu, and Project Director Prof. Dr. Selçuk Toprak, followed by the start of activities. The training included numerous participants from Italy, Greece, Georgia, and Türkiye.
The READY4DISasters project aims to increase community resilience against disasters such as fires, floods, and landslides. Additionally, the project aims to enhance preparedness for disasters in Europe, strengthen volunteer networks, promote social awareness and participation in trainings, motivate local citizens, and enhance volunteer awareness through innovative educational modules. The project will present methods for sharing practices and measuring resilience levels in communities during disaster preparedness, response, and recovery processes through the development of digital games and open educational resources focused on three different types of disasters. In this framework, creating regional and local networks and aligning with EU strategic policies are also key components of the project.
On the first day of the training, participants received detailed information about the project and its outputs. They were informed about the multilingual e-learning platform created from the open educational resources modules to be used for training volunteers and the digital games that will be used as a tool for self-assessment and measuring competencies. Following a technical visit and training at the KBB Fire Department, participants received field training related to firefighting and basic field training provided by the fire department personnel. On the second day of the training, participants received extensive technical knowledge and organizational details, starting from the 112 Emergency Call Center Office, which is the first step in emergency response at the Kocaeli AFAD institution.
The outputs of the project are planned to be shared and made available at a project closing conference to be held at Gebze Technical University in November 2024.
The project can be followed at https://ready4disasters.gtu.edu.tr/ or
https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/projects/search/details/2022-1-TR01-KA220-ADU-000087618.
