Integrated crisis managemet during nuclear accidents and attacks

The purpose of this study is to evaluate current situation in Turkey and recent developments in the world in the area of integrated crisis management at the time of nuclear accident and attacks, as well as to determine the issues and develop strategies to resolve the issues. In this study, a conceptual framework was established and current situation in Turkey was evaluated in regard to integrated crisis management in the event of nuclear accidents and attacks. During the evaluation of the current situation, a field research was conducted to understand the nuclear risk awareness and level of crisis management knowledge among the public and the crisis management personnel was assessed. In addition to this, related regulations and institutional structures were evaluated. With the acquired data, issues of the integrated crisis management of Turkey in the events of nuclear accidents and attacks determined, and strategies were developed for these issues. Ten outcomes of research proposals are related to the integrated crisis management in Turkey in the event of nuclear accidents and attacks were determined. Among those, some are about the crisis management structure and they can be summarized as lack of coodination between the institutions responsible to respond the crisis, insufficent practice at the local levels for the crisis management, high vulnerability of the society facing with the crisis and lack of trust against the authorities. The issues for the nuclear risks are found as; unexperienced instutions and personnel in the area of crisis management, undefined roles and responsibilities of the manager in the time of a nuclear crisis, then diagnostic immaturement of the improvement studies. In conclusion, significant amount of efforts have been made in the area of restructuring the crisis management in Turkey and important steps were taken, such as increasing the employment of the qualified workforce to solve the issues. Particularly, in regard to the efforts aiming to increase the resistance and trust in the society against such crisis, placing more emphasis on the integrated work between the institutions and creating a model in which supporting these activities with active involvement of the citizens, NGO's, private sector, local authorities and educational institutions within the participatory democracy must be accomplished. Keywords: integrated crisis management, risk management, disaster and emergency management, nuclear accidents, nuclear attacks