Disaster coordination experiences of Türkiye national medical rescue teams (UMKE) from aksaray deployed to Hatay and Osmaniye during the 2023 Kahramanmaras earthquakes

Earthquakes in Türkiye cause significant material and moral losses. The 1999 Gölcük (Kocaeli) earthquake, the 2011 Van earthquake, the 2020 İzmir Seferihisar earthquake, and the 2020 Elazığ earthquake are some of the major earthquakes that have occurred in Türkiye. The earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş on February 6, 2023, have been recorded in the literature as the disaster of the century. The aim of this study is to identify the coordination experiences of Aksaray UMKE (National Medical Rescue Team) personnel who served in the provinces of Osmaniye and Hatay during the earthquakes that occurred on February 6, 2023, to determine the problems related to coordination in the field, and to offer solution proposals. The research method is based on the phenomenological design, which is one of the qualitative research methods. In the research process, interviews were conducted with 10 participants. The data obtained from the interviews were coded and analyzed by categorizing them into specific themes using the thematic analysis method. This process was carried out with the support of the MAXQDA Qualitative Data Analysis software. As a result of the interviews, it was determined that coordination in the field during the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes was achieved to a certain extent; however, the size of the disaster area, communication and information problems, transportation and security issues, lack of inter-agency coordination, and deficiencies in personnel and equipment were identified as the most prominent problems. In this context, it is recommended to develop the concept of field coordination, to increase the use of radios, to strengthen communication and information infrastructure, and to increase training and drills.