Turkish aid agency empowers Pakistani scouts in disaster response

Türkiye's state-run aid agency has launched a seven-day programme in the southern port city of Karachi to train Pakistani scouts and rescuers in the latest techniques and ways of rescue and disaster management.

Under the programme billed "Emergency Rescue and Disaster Management" and launched on Monday by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), several training sessions will be held across the country's commercial capital over the next week.

Speaking at the programme held at Sindh Scouts Gulshan Training Center, Turkish Consul General Cemal Sangu said that the disasters experienced in Pakistan, Türkiye and recently in Libya and Morocco further increased the importance of search and rescue activities.

He stated that this training programme is very important for both Türkiye and Pakistan and thanked all the institutions that contributed to the organisation of the activity.

Recalling the assistance of Pakistani and Turkish relief agencies during last year's unprecedented floods in Pakistan and massive earthquakes in southern Türkiye in February this year, Sangu said the two countries have stood beside each other in testing times.

Deputy Commissioner of Sindh Boys Scouts Association Hassan Feroz said the local rescuers will learn from the experience of Turkish rescue and relief agencies through this programme.

TIKA's Karachi Coordinator Halil Ibrahim Basaran said the programme is the continuation of similar trainings imparted by the agency in Bosnia, Bangladesh, and Libya in recent months.

Pakistan is among the top 10 countries vulnerable to climate crisis. 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.