By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Türkiye’s state-run aid agency held a weeklong search and rescue training for Pakistani scouts in the southern port city of Karachi.
The training, the third of its kind in recent months, was organized by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency's (TIKA) Emergency and Disaster Response Training Program (ADAMEP) in collaboration with the IHH Humanitarian Aid Foundation Disaster Management and the Sindh Scouts Association (SBSA).
Speaking at the closing ceremony, Türkiye's Consul General in Karachi Cemal Sangu praised the “admirable” solidarity between Türkiye and Pakistan in handling the recent disasters, including the 2022 floods in Pakistan and the 2023 earthquake in Türkiye.
He also expressed satisfaction over the collaboration between different institutions of the two countries to prepare for “potential future disasters.”
Emphasizing that sustainability and permanence are the most crucial aspects of TIKA projects, the agency’s Karachi Coordinator Halil Ibrahim Basaran said that each phase of the training further enhanced the capabilities of Pakistani search and rescue teams in disaster response.
Cihad Kaptan, IHH disaster management training coordinator, highlighted the benefits of joint disaster preparedness, given that both Pakistan and Türkiye are located in natural disaster-prone regions.
Sindh Scouts Association Director Siddique Memon thanked Türkiye and its institutions for contributing to disaster response efforts.
Sarfaraz Sheikh, a search and rescue volunteer from the Alkhidmat Foundation, one of Pakistan’s largest relief agencies, said that the foundation is continuously evolving and they gained valuable knowledge from the training sessions organized by TIKA.