Scandal from AFAD: Volunteers not deployed for İzmir fires

It has been stated that AFAD did not deploy its volunteer teams to the field during the forest fire that began in İzmir on August 13 and lasted for 3 days.

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Scandal from AFAD: Volunteers not deployed for İzmir fires

Journalist Kazım Kızıl alleged that the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), which operates under the Ministry of Interior, did not deploy its volunteers to the field during the forest fire in İzmir that began on August 13 and could only be brought under control 3 days later.

Kızıl stated that in a WhatsApp group of 600 AFAD volunteers in İzmir, an administrator sent a message on August 14, when the fire had already spread to residential areas, saying, "We do not have any deployment regarding the fire at this moment."

Kazım Kızıl expressed that this message was taken from a WhatsApp group established by AFAD to communicate with its volunteers, and that the message was sent during the hours when the fire had spread to residential areas and people were in the greatest need of help. Kızıl reported that at 14:28 on Friday, the day the message was sent, AFAD made the following announcement to its volunteers:

"Dear volunteers, we do not have any deployment regarding the fire at this moment. If needed, information will be shared here. Please do not rely on other information or posts."

Kızıl noted that at those hours, many couriers were distributing urgent supplies such as water, ayran, food, and masks to firefighting personnel, search and rescue teams, and security forces, yet AFAD did not assign any tasks to its volunteers. Kızıl asked, "Why did AFAD not make any deployment for its hundreds of volunteers whom it has already trained for these days, is in contact with, and who were standing by ready when they said 'We are heading to the field'?"

Kazım Kızıl noted that he investigated whether any other announcement was made later, considering the possibility that the scale of the incident might not have been understood at those hours; however, he recorded that no such announcement was made. Kızıl stated that the WhatsApp group in question was only one of the groups established by AFAD and that approximately 600 volunteers from İzmir were in this group.

Kazım Kızıl stated that he wanted to speak with an AFAD administrator to clarify this situation, but that the person said they were a civil servant and could not answer his questions. Kızıl then said he called the İzmir AFAD Directorate, and the person he spoke with stated that all directors who could answer his questions were in a meeting and that he would be called back once the meeting ended. However, Kızıl added that 8 hours had passed since he made the call and no one had called him back.

QUESTIONS FOR AFAD

Journalist Kazım Kızıl directed the following questions to AFAD officials:

What are the deployment criteria for volunteers, whom we have seen in many disasters such as fires, earthquakes, and floods before?

Does a fire where dozens of homes and businesses were evacuated and many were reduced to ashes not meet the criteria sufficient for the deployment of volunteers?

While hundreds of volunteers were waiting for instructions to head to the field, why did AFAD not deploy its volunteers in the İzmir fire?

News Source: 12punto