AKUT Search and Rescue Association () is a Turkish

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

for disaster

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

relief. It was established in 1995 as a grassroots organization by seven leading outdoor athletes of Turkey and officially founded as an association in 1996. The organization delivers emergency and disaster relief to people trapped in caves, lost on mountains or to victims of

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

disasters at home and abroad. The initial purpose of the association's establishment was to provide search and rescue relief for climbers in emergency as no local organization of this type existed so far.

History

The group was formed first in the aftermath of a mountaineering accident occurred in 1994 on

Bolkar Mountains Bolkar Mountains, also known as Bulgar Dagh or Bolghar Dagh, are a mountain range situated in the middle part of the Taurus mountains complex in southern Turkey bounded by the Göksu River to the west and the Pozantı River to the east. The nor ...

, at which two local climbers were involved. In December 1995, a group of volunteer mountaineers conducted their first organized mission on Mt. Uludağ, and rescued people, who got lost in the fog, freezing in heavy snowfall. It was during this operation that the group named itself "AKUT", which is a concept in medicine terminology. The organization was officially incorporated in the beginning of 1996. The members received earthquake and flood training within the next year. This qualified the organization to work cooperative alongside official agencies during their efforts of natural disaster relief. On January 15, 1999, AKUT was given the status of a

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

by the Turkish government. AKUT became generally known after it quickly reacted to the

1999 İzmit earthquake An earthquake of moment magnitude 7.6 struck Kocaeli Province, Turkey on 17 August 1999. According to official figures, at least 18,373 people died and 48,901 people were injured during the earthquake, and 5,840 people were missing. At least 15 ...

, and worked with its 150 permanent members and coordinated over 1,000 helpers, who rescued about 200 people from the debris. In 1999, the organization became a member of

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

' Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG). AKUT was officially recognized in 2011 as a "mid-sized search and rescue team" by INSARAG. AKUT undertook international missions following the

1999 Athens earthquake The 1999 Athens earthquake occurred on September 7 at near Mount Parnitha in Greece with a moment magnitude of 6.0 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). The proximity to the Athens metropolitan area resulted in widespread str ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, the 1999 Taiwan earthquake, the

2001 Gujarat earthquake The 2001 Gujarat earthquake, also known as the Bhuj earthquake, occurred on 26 January at . The epicentre was about 9 km south-southwest of the village of Chobari in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch district in Gujarat, India. The earthquake had ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and the

2003 Bam earthquake An earthquake struck the Kerman province of southeastern Iran at 01:56 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC (5:26 am Iran Standard Time) on December 26, 2003. The shock had a moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 6.6 and a maximum Mer ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. AKUT responded immediately to the massive earthquakes of Feb 6, 2023, sending 30 teams to Kahramanmaraş, Adiyaman, Gaziantep, Malatya, Hatay, Osmaniye and Adana.

Organization

As of 2015, the organization counts about 250 core members and is also able to deploy around one thousand volunteers if needed. It has appropriate technical equipment for its operations. The headquarters in Istanbul coordinates 35 teams formed in various cities across the country and organize also specific training courses related to search and rescue, disaster preparedness and response for the members and the volunteers. The number of people rescued by AKUT totaled 2062 as of June 2015.

References

External links

Official webpage

Official webpage of Ankara Team
rev. 6. Nov. 2011
INSARAG USAR Directory
rev. 6. Nov. 2011

rev. 6. Nov. 2011 (in German) {{Commons category Charities based in Turkey Mountain rescue agencies Organizations established in 1996 Organizations based in Istanbul Şişli Volunteer search and rescue organizations 1996 establishments in Turkey Emergency services in Turkey