“We are a society with high volunteering motivation”

Stating that the most common source of motivation in volunteers is the sense of human responsibility and disaster experience, Occupational Health and Safety Specialist Asst. Prof. Gamze Kagan said that "Since our country is a disaster region, the number of people who already have disaster experience is high, and we can say that we are a society with high motivation to volunteer in disasters."

Üsküdar University Occupational Health and Safety Program Head Asst. Prof. Gamze Kağan made evaluations about the importance of being a disaster volunteer, which is seen as a conscientious responsibility and a duty of humanity.

Stating that volunteering activities in disasters are encountered in a very wide scope as activities related to eliminating or reducing disaster risks before disaster, post-disaster intervention activities and post-disaster recovery activities, Kağan said that "In this context, awareness-raising activities, disaster preparedness studies, and training activities on disasters are carried out to reduce pre-disaster risks. For post-disaster response, activities such as search and rescue, first aid, food, drink, clothing, shelter are provided for logistical support and spiritual, economic and cultural support for post-disaster recovery. Disaster volunteers have a very important role not only for the post-disaster but also for the pre-disaster risk reduction phase."

The whole of society, and even the whole world, is being wounded socially and psychologically

Emphasizing that a large part of the society is affected by natural disasters Asst. Prof. Gamze Kağan said that "Especially in disasters such as the Kahramanmaraş earthquake that we recently experienced, which covers a very wide geography once a century and causes great destruction, first of all, people living in the region where the disaster occurred or witnessing the destruction in the region during the natural disaster and experiencing losses, then the people who have relatives during the disaster and finally the people who have learned and witnessed the losses and damages caused by the disaster are affected. The whole society, and even the whole world, is hurting in various ways socially and psychologically."

Unity, solidarity and cooperation feel good...

Asst. Prof. Gamze Kağan stated that unity, solidarity and cooperation are good for people in difficult times and said that they organiz ed disaster awareness activities with the volunteer students of the Kızılay club of the university after the Kahramanmaraş earthquake.

Stating that everyone who is helpful, sincere and responsible and has strong human relations can participate in volunteer work in disasters, Kağan stated that anyone who wants to can participate in active volunteer work in disasters by becoming a member of non-governmental organizations operating in disasters.

Asst. Prof. Gamze Kagan said on why people volunteer in disasters: "In our creation, helping each other and doing good are seen as something that is good for all humanity in spirit. In fact, we are not only making the person whose needs are satisfied happy by meeting the need of someone, but also making people happy."

Kağan, reminding that she was also a volunteer in the Kahramanmaraş earthquake, continued her remarks as follows:

"I myself experienced this while feeling bad when I saw the destruction from the last earthquake, feeling better when I carried out activities to heal the wounds of our brothers and sisters in the disaster area. We probably do not have a single citizen who acted with this feeling in the last earthquake and did not help the people in the region because it shows up more in such major disasters with a basic sense of human responsibility."

We are highly motivated to volunteer

Asst. Prof. Gamze Kağan shared her own experiences and concluded her remarks as follows:

"As a result of our work with volunteers who were active in the Maraş earthquake, we concluded that the most common source of motivation was a sense of humanitarian responsibility and disaster experience. Since our country is a disaster region, the number of people who already have disaster experience is high and we can say that we are a society with high motivation to volunteer in disasters. In fact, we all witnessed this in the last great Maraş earthquake. I hope that we will learn from this last disaster and prevent the future natural events from turning into disasters that will cause great destruction."

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)