Afad Teams Support 8Th Umke Exercise
Medical rescue activities were undertaken according to seven different scenarios during the 8th National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE) Exercise organized in the eastern provincial center of Malatya by the Ministry of Health and supported by the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).
Head of Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD) Dr. Mehmet Güllüoğlu said during this address at the event, “We need to enhance a joint working culture. We are very happy to work hand in hand with UMKE”.
Deputy Minister of Health Şuayip Birinci, AK Party Malatya Deputy Öznur Çalık, Head of AFAD Dr. Mehmet Güllüoğlu, Deputy Governor of Malatya Ali Deniz Sürmen and officials from the Ministry of Health, AFAD, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the World Health Organization participated in the 8th National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE) exercise organized at the Malatya Sugar Factory by the Ministry of Health.
The exercise which was monitored simultaneously from the coordination center via 50 cameras was prompted with the wireless announcement of Deputy Minister of Health Şuayip Birinci.
500 member UMKE teams from 81 cities of the country arrived at the exercise field after the announcement. The UMKE teams which have been preparing for the event since July 22 successfully completed the exercise.
Large participation from AFAD
AFAD assigned 30 Search and Rescue Technicians from Malatya, Kayseri, Elazığ and Erzincan provinces and seven Search and Rescue vehicles for the exercise. It also installed one CBRN Decontamination Tent, one Decontamination Unit, two Bath Containers and two WC Containers in the field.
The scenario of the exercise was based on a chemical leak from a tank at the Sugar Factory in the aftermath of an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. Also, a man working on a high tower fell to the ground, another fell from the rocks in the Levent Valley Canyon located in the Akçadağ District. The injured persons were transferred to hospitals with a helicopter, many houses had collapsed in Beydağı neighborhood, there was a fire in a building, a train in front of Railway Directorate was also on fire and many people were injured due to destroyed coach.
According to the scenario, there were also many injured people due to a multiple-vehicle collision. As part of the exercise, patients were evacuated from the Women and Infant Hospital and transferred to other hospitals.
Main theme of the exercise was an earthquake
Deputy Minister of Health Şuayip Birici reported that UMKE was founded in 2004 and it has been carrying out its activities with 12 thousand volunteers and added that the main theme of the recent UMKE exercise was an earthquake. Noting that there has been 210 earthquakes in the last 117 years, Birici said, “We have lost 82 thousand people, 600 thousand buildings were heavily damaged. In the light of this, our main principle is to make everything manageable in the first 72 hours and allow health teams to be prepared for all kinds of hazards. We will rehearse all these during this exercise.”
“Joint working culture”
Meanwhile, Head of Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) Dr. Mehmet Güllüoğlu underlined the importance of practice in an effort to achieve expertise.
Noting that exercises are golden opportunities to train the staff, Dr. Güllüoğlu stated, “Successful and well conducted exercise are chance for us to see our shortcomings and improve our abilities. We need to enhance a joint working culture. We are very happy to work hand in hand with UMKE. We displayed shoulder to shoulder work during this exercise."
Youngest ambulance fleet
General Director of Emergency Health Services Semih Korkut noted that Turkey has the youngest ambulance fleet adding that age average of total of 5 thousand 500 ambulances is 3.5 years.
