Challenges To Existing Earthquake Preparedness In Izmir, Turkey - Research Paper Example

According to extant literature (Der Heide, 1996; Smith, 2013), disaster is a disruption of the community function as a result of natural causes, resulting in widespread human, material, economic and environmental losses which may impact the ability of the community to cope with its own resources.This natural structure as observed by Kutluca and Ozdemir (2008, p.47) cannot be avoided; so, disaster preparedness plans and taking physical and political actions are the only means of surviving in such unforgiving geography.

Normally, people forget about natural hazards shortly after their occurrence, and scores of planned projects for mitigating future hazards are put off soon after the natural hazards occur. Rather than taking precautions and pre-disaster measures, Kutluca and Ozdemir (2008, p.47) posit that only recovery emergency measures, as well as the post-disaster aid for the calamity victims, is applied.In such conditions, as Ye et al. (2012) argue, disaster preparedness is a key factor that needs to be considered in order to understand the activities and measures that are underway to ensure the effectiveness of the response to reduce the disaster impact.

According to Foster (2012), the key incentive linked to the examination of the preparedness capability of the local authority is to understand and facilitate the resilience of that organization and identify the associated challenges which inhibit the effective provision of disaster planning. Yonder and Turkoglu (2011) also argue that by promoting disaster management, it is possible to improve the response capacity, capability, and coordination between the local and central governments, as well as identifying gaps in service and sustaining long term preparedness.1.1 Problem StatementAccording to Ozdemir (2008), the primary problem linked to disaster management in Turkey is at a local level.

The authors contend that the migration of people to bigger cities with greater pressure on housing and illegal settlements in risky areas has led to more concerns regarding the management of the disaster.