5th AYMEP Evaluation Meeting was held at our university
The meeting, hosted by our university and held under the chairmanship of the Disaster Management Application and Research Centres Platform (AYMEP), was held at 1071 Congress and Culture Centre.
In place of MAUN Rector, who is in Cyprus to meet with the European University of Lefke within the scope of the protocol on Dentistry, Vice-Rector Prof. Dr. Ulaş Çaydaş, Director of Disaster Management Application and Research Centre of MAU , Assist. Prof. Dr. İskender Dölek and research centre managers of 35 universities operating in disaster and emergency management attended the meeting, and Governor Assoc. Dr. İlker Gündüzöz, Deputy Governor Mustafa Ayvat, Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Colonel Mehmet Kasım Ermiş, Provincial Police Chief Engin Kaloğlu, Earthquake Risk Reduction Department General Manager Orhan Tatar, Central Platform Deputy Director Prof. Dr. Kürşat Alyamaç also attended the opening program of the meeting.
Making a speech in the opening program, Governor Assoc. Dr. İlker Gündüzöz stated that as the governorship, they are prepared for possible disasters and added: “Our city is an earthquake zone. Muş is at the junction of the Northeast and East Anatolian fault lines. It is one of our provinces at risk of earthquakes. Türkiye is a country that is likely to be exposed not only to earthquakes but also to many disasters. For this reason, it has to maximize its ability to live with disasters. We have to do this both administratively and as citizens. In this respect, the importance of the pre-disaster preparations made by AFAD and other units of the state will be understood when a disaster occurs. With the opportunities given to us by our Minister of Internal Affairs Süleyman Soylu, significant investments were made in testing and strengthening the seismicity of many of our public buildings. We are doing these to keep the police and gendarmerie standing during the earthquake. While we were doing these, there was a possible earthquake behind our ear. There is no technology that knows when an earthquake will occur. That's why we have to be prepared as if there will be an earthquake at any moment. With the sensitivity of our Minister of Interior, important preparations were made for the pre-disaster. However, there are also things to be done during and after the disaster. Therefore, I fully believe that this meeting will be beneficial in terms of exchanging ideas on issues related to coordination. I would like to thank all the stakeholders who contributed to the meeting.”
Our vice-rector Prof. Dr. Ulaş Çaydaş, who is responsible for the research and development units and centres of our university, emphasized that these meetings will strengthen the cooperation between universities: “I wish our professors Orhan Tatar and Kürşat Alyamaç success in their new duties. These are really critical missions. I hope AYMEP will get stronger with these tasks. Hopefully, with these platforms, the cooperation between universities will become stronger with academic studies. I would like to thank everyone for their participation.”
In his opening speech, Disaster Research Centre Deputy Director Prof. Dr. Kürşat Esat Alyamaç emphasized the importance of AYMEP meetings: “It is very valuable to have research centres in universities. These structures, where teachers come together to contact a subject and find solutions to problems by bringing together their fields of expertise, are of vital importance for disasters. Currently, there are approximately 45 Disaster Management Centres in 42 universities in Turkey and all of them are members of this platform. It is very valuable for these research centres to come together. Because we know that our country is a disaster country. There are many different disaster risks in Muş, such as earthquakes, avalanches, landslides and rockfalls. There were 20 thousand earthquakes, large and small, recorded in our country last year. Therefore, disaster is an issue that should always be on our agenda. This is the main purpose of this platform. Disaster and risk reduction is our responsibility. It is not something that only the state can do on its own. This is what AYMEP wants to do. AYMEP is a platform that will make very serious contributions to our country regarding natural disasters.”
At the meeting, which continued in the Senate Room after the opening program, studies and actions for disasters and emergencies were discussed in a comprehensive manner, and current scientific evaluations were made on issues such as earthquake and flood disasters, climate change and forest fires.
