Turkish aid agency's disaster training program concludes in Pakistan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - A weeklong program organized by Türkiye's state-run aid agency to train Pakistani scouts and rescuers in the latest techniques and ways of rescue and disaster management concluded on Saturday in the southern port city of Karachi.

Under the program billed Emergency Rescue and Disaster Management and launched by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), in collaboration with the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) and Sindh Scouts Association, several training sessions were held across the country's commercial capital over the past week, said a statement from the agency.

The equipment used in training was also provided by TIKA and gifted to the Sindh Scouts Association.

The training sessions included search and rescue training in nature, search and rescue training on and underwater, and urban search and rescue training, in addition to emergency aid and medical training.

Speaking at the closing ceremony held at Sindh Scouts Gulshan Training Center, Turkish Consul General Cemal Sangu said that last year's floods in Pakistan and the earthquake in Türkiye this year made it necessary for both countries to come together in difficult times.

They were the first countries that rushed to help each other, he added.

Disasters in both countries and other countries increase the significance of both disaster preparations and search and rescue training, the consul general observed.

"This kind of training is crucial for life-saving and we are happy to share our expertise with brother country Pakistan," he maintained.

TIKA's Karachi Coordinator Halil Ibrahim Basaran said that due to climate change, increasing natural events in recent years are turning into disasters and are affecting people's residential areas.

This makes disaster-fighting preparations and search and rescue activities significant.

TIKA, he went on to say, has been carrying out similar training programs in many countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lebanon, Bangladesh and Georgia.

Later, certificates were given to the participants of the training session.

Pakistan is among the top 10 countries vulnerable to climate change. Unrelenting rains-triggered floods last year inundated a third of the country, aside from killing over 1,700 people and causing whopping losses of $32 billion, according to official statistics.