Volunteerism Characteristic For Emergency And Disaster Interpreting: Türkiye Experience

Abstract

Disasters are natural or man-made events that have devastating effects on human life, economy, and cultural assets that governments cannot cope with using local resources. Disaster causes large-scale losses, therefore actions such as search and rescue (SAR) operations, first aid services, and distribution of aid materials are vital in the place where the disaster occurs. In addition, disasters create and moral obligations in people and lead both to national and international cooperation. In this context, international aid can be sent to countries where disasters occur, especially in the context of SAR operations. The aid aforementioned can be provided by countries or by international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on a voluntary basis. It is essential for groups or NGOs in question to be able to communicate with the local governments in disaster area to which they are sent, without language barriers, in order to carry out the operations and assistance. This situation clearly demonstrateditself in the 1999 Marmara earthquakes, which caused a lot of loss of life in Turkey. After realizing the language barrier, Emergency and Disaster Interpreting (ARÇ) Organization was established on volunteering basis to ensure communication with foreign search and rescue teams and first aid teams in disaster situations. ARÇ, which aimed to provide this service for disaster situations when it was first established, has also included emergency situations in its scope of work later. Within the scope of the organization, trainings were providedfirstin Istanbul, followed by Ankara, and then Izmir and Sakarya, at İstanbul, Hacettepe, Dokuz Eylül and Sakarya Universities, respectively. This thesis underlines issue of volunteering, considering that individuals participating in ARÇ organization must have necessary sense of volunteering in disasters and emergencies, and aims to clarify the volunteering understanding of individuals who have participated in the trainings at various levels within the scope of ARÇ Organization.