“DISASTER RESILIENT SOCIETY WITH YOUTH” PROJECT OF THE CIVIL DEFENCE ORGANIZATION AIMING DISASTER RISKS REDUCTION

Abstract. The loss of lives, injuries and the damage on economies that occur as a result of disasters is increasing due to the changing nature. People need to adopt themselves to be able to resist against disasters. Nevertheless, minimizing the costs of disasters can achieved not individually but rather by a well-organized social system. This requires a decentralized disaster management system that would allow participation of not only central authorities but also widespread volunteers. Also, pre-emptive cautions to raise public awareness and capabilities about how to struggle against disasters are very important component of being well organized. Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Civil Defence Organization has constituted the “Disaster Resilient Society with Youth Project” to reduce number of loss of life, injuries and economic loss as global targets envisaged in Sendai Framework for Action. This project is being implemented in line with the objects of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction which is inspired from the principle of “Disaster risk reduction requires an all-of-society engagement and partnership. While the project is managed by Civil Defence Organization, it is implemented by the participation of volunteers. The project is the last phase of a series of projects which have been realized for 35 years in line with the same goal of reducing loss of lives, injuries and economic loss while various concepts targeted to address different levels of the society. The objective of the Project is to firstly choose some individuals and then train them to have disaster consciousness and awareness about disaster management cycle in society. These people would potentially provide support to responding official teams in case of an unexpected disaster. For this reason, the project also involves practical training and practices as complementary to the theoretical education phase. In the first place, a four year road map is determined to improve the project by identifying disruptions and weaknesses compared to similar projects around the world. The establishment of target groups of the Project within youth is important not only to improve the effectiveness of responding phase, but also to maintain a sustainable system for the progression of the Project. In order to encourage and increase the participation of volunteers to the Project, it is planned to issue certificates, badges and prize for those who would be successful during the training phase. In order to achieve the goals of the Project, the project managers seek collaboration of universities, local authorities, central authorities and nongovernmental organizations which are seen as stakeholders.