Turkey has developed a national disaster response model named "Turkey's National Risk Shield", Anadolu agency reports.

The "Shield" is aimed at increasing the preparedness of the country's settlements for natural disasters, including earthquakes, floods, landslides, drought and fires. The initiative implies the involvement of the efforts of the whole people, the constructive contribution of each citizen to the fight against natural disasters.

The Director General of the Department for Earthquakes and Risk Reduction of the Office for the Prevention and Elimination of Consequences of Emergencies under the Government of Turkey (AFAD), Professor Orhan Tatar, noted the extreme importance of this structure, since it is necessary to increase the seismic resistance in a short time not only the regions of the country affected by earthquakes, but also other areas at risk.

In this regard, the national disaster response model will accelerate this process and increase the efficiency of the work carried out.

The first meeting on the disaster response model will be held today at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul.

According to the professor, the AFAD Earthquake Monitoring and Assessment Center records tremors both in Turkey and in 13 countries located nearby. The Center receives data from 1,145 seismic stations in the country.

"To date, a lot of work has been done to reduce risks during possible natural disasters, but there is still a lot to be done," the AFAD representative concluded.

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