Integrated Disaster Management in the Light of the İzmir Earthquake and the Place of Civil Society Organisations in Disaster Management

Natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, landslides, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions may directly threaten human life, and they also have a range of negative economic, psychological, environmental and sociological consequences for individuals and societies. In this context, in order to reduce the damage and impact caused by natural disasters, there are important activities that need to be carried out during and after a disaster, in addition to a number of preventive measures. Alongside search and rescue and humanitarian response, which come first, identifying and minimising risks before a disaster in order to prevent the negative consequences that may be faced should it occur is also of great importance. As well as the construction of buildings resilient to natural events, the implementation of multi-layered risk-reduction work by universities, local and central government and civil society organisations to increase societal resilience is among the principal issues that need to be addressed within disaster management. This study is an analysis of the components of integrated disaster management and of the preventive and responsive role of civil society organisations in disasters, prepared in the light of field observations and data gathered after the earthquake that occurred in the Aegean Sea on 30 October 2020 and affected the province of İzmir.