Flood disaster management: Sinop/Turkeli flood example

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of disaster management practices in Turkey before, during and after the disasters by taking a holistic approach, to the disaster management process, using the flood disaster that occurred in Türkeli district of Sinop as a study case. Turkey is a country that faces many various natural disaster risks such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, forest fires and droughts. In addition, sudden and heavy rainfalls due to climate change increase the frequency and impact of flood disasters, especially in high-risk regions like the Black Sea. Therefore, disaster management should be considered not only as response-oriented process but also as a multi-dimensional process that includes risk reduction, preparedness, intervention and recovery phases. In this study, which was conducted using the document analysis method, the disaster management process, planning and coordination in disaster management and the institutional structure of disaster management in Turkey were discussed and the effectiveness of the processes was examined practically through the flood disaster in Türkeli District. In this context, the Türkeli District flood disaster serves a significant example for both questioning the effectiveness of existing disaster management mechanisms and analysing the disaster preparedness levels of institutions and organizations that have responsibilities in the disaster management process. In the study, pre-disaster preparedness, emergency response during the disaster and recovery efforts carried out afterward were evaluated in the light of application examples and official data. The current situation of disaster management in Turkey was taken into consideration through the Sinop Türkeli disaster management example and evaluations were made for a more effective disaster management process. As a result of the evaluations, it was revealed that instead of focusing only on the crisis moment in disaster management, it was necessary to emphasize preventive and planning approaches, strengthen inter-institutional coordination and expanding educational activities aimed at raising disaster awareness.