Toplumun Afete ve Acil Durumlara Hazırlık Düzeyini Etkileyen Faktörlerin İncelenmesi: Amasya İli Örneği

Abstract

When Turkey is evaluated in terms of its disaster experiences, risks and dangers arising from its geographical location, it is one of the countries that should give the most importance to disaster preparedness activities. The preparedness level of the society, which plays a critical role in the success of these studies, is an indicator of how resilient the society is to disasters. Therefore, this research aims to examine the factors affecting the preparedness level of the society for disasters and emergencies. The method of the research is mixed method. In the quantitative dimension, the Individual Preparedness for Emergencies/Disasters Scale Based on the Health Belief Model and the questionnaire prepared by the researcher were applied. In the qualitative dimension, a semi-structured interview form was used. For the quantitative dimension of the research, a scale and questionnaire were applied to 300 participants living in the center of Amasya province, and for the qualitative dimension, in-depth interviews were held with 24 participants consisting of managers and experts who carried out disaster preparedness studies in Amasya province. The quantitative data of the research were analyzed using SPSS 23.0 for Windows, and the qualitative data were analyzed using the Maxquda 2023 program. When the results of the quantitative dimension of the research are evaluated in terms of the Participants' Individual Preparedness for Emergencies/Disasters Scale Score Based on the Health Belief Model, it is seen that the general scale score is below the average. This shows that disaster preparedness levels are low. Looking at the quantitative results affecting the preparation level of the participants in the study, it is seen that gender, age, marital status, educational status, characteristics of the participants (women, men, children, elderly, disabled status) are some of the factors affecting the preparation level. Qualitative research results are evaluated under four main themes: institutional disaster preparedness efforts from the stakeholders' perspective, individual preparations of the stakeholders and Amasya, positive factors affecting disaster preparedness from the stakeholders' perspective, obstacles to disaster preparedness and policy recommendations. According to the research results, it is seen that there are many different factors affecting the disaster preparedness level of the society. Accordingly, in this research, a holistic model that includes all elements with a new perspective on disaster preparedness studies has been proposed by emphasizing local level disaster preparedness studies. It is expected that this model will contribute to reducing disaster risks starting from the local level, ensuring the resilience of the society and transforming disaster preparedness efforts.