ARES ACTIVITIES DOMESTIC AND ABROAD Author: Aziz SASA,TA1E President TRAC TRAC ARES-Officer

INTRODUCTION -According to the related laws and bylaws, every Province has to conduct disaster exercizes at least once a year. This is taken serious since the earthquakes in Due to the MoU’s signed with the primary agencies, TRAC is automatically called to duty in such events. -The emergency management in Turkey is in an transition period in terms of organisational structure since The whole mechanism, including the firefighting, is likely to be put under the command of the Emergency Management Agency at the Prime Ministry. This body is undertaking the whole mechanism to a revision, putting new standarts, including the structure of the Emergency Operation Centers, the routine exercizes and communication procedures. TRAC is acting as a voluntary advisor and facilitator in these.

INTRODUCTION -TRAC has 48 subsidiaries throughout the country. According to our bylaws, every licensed member has take part in an excersize every year. -After a change of law, TRAC is now able to assign “Contact Offices” which are directly tied to the HQ. This mechanism has the big advantage of eliminating the need for the minimum of 17 members, thus enabling the installation of officially recognized structures in regions with a low population and giving the possibility of utilizing the existing amateurs in these regions in terms of ARES. This change of law was initiated by TRAC.

Besides the big-scale “real events” in the past, the main activity is participation into the routine exercizes. Mostly, in-site tactical communication is dominating, especially focussed on serving as an “intra-agency communication facility” and “Emergency Operation Center Communination Unit”. OPERATIONS WITHIN THE COUNTRY

Izmir-Excersize 2002

OPERATIONS WITHIN THE COUNTRY Among several exercizes were some Specialized ones such as oil spill and oil refinery fires. The TRAC Emcooms Vehicle acted as a “Mobile Communication Facility.

OPERATIONS WITHIN THE COUNTRY The Emcomms Vehicle of TRAC-Kocaeli significantly boosted the number of activities and operations. After the CPEMEX-04 exercize in Bulgaria it is regarded as an utility of the Turkish Emergency Management Agency. (Pictures from the Train Derailment Operation near Izmit, 2004)

OPERATIONS WITHIN THE COUNTRY The scope of activities includes co- operation with various Fire Brigades. Regular Activity In the Beaches of Kefken (Izmit-Region) in 2004

OPERATIONS ABROAD The first ever deployment to a foreign country was made due the invitation of the Ministry of Health in conjunction with the Bam Earthquake in Iran (end 2003)

OPERATIONS ABROAD Bam-Iran Main Task has been in-site tactical communication with some sporadic long- range Communication as well. HF communication was difficult due to propagation problems. The duty lasted almost one month.

OPERATIONS ABROAD CPEMEX-04 (Bulgaria) This operation was the very first deployment of the emcomms vehicle. TRAC was invited by the Turkish Emergency Management Agency (Prime Ministry) as part of the Turkish Team. Participating agencies were Civil Defence, Fire Brigades, Ministry of Forest and Enviroment, Ministry of Health and the Turkish Red Crescent. Participating countries were Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia,Italy and Turkey. The Exercize was organized as a “Civil Emergency Exercize” by NATO, based on 3 different scenarios (Toxic Chemical Spill, Forest Fire, Industrial Accident)

OPERATIONS ABROAD CPEMEX-04 (Bulgaria)