Gümüşhane Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi

Öz

Disasters continue to affect life negatively by increasing their frequency and severity with each passing day. The most important element of protection from the negative effects of disasters is an effective disaster management. Experiences gained in recent years have shown that traditional disaster management is inadequate. For this reason, the tendency to turn to disaster management systems in which local governments are at the forefront instead of central management approaches is increasing. Many international organizations, especially the United Nations, are making efforts to strengthen the institutional capacities of local governments in terms of disaster management. In Turkey, disaster management is organized by the central administration, and municipalities are given support tasks in the disaster management process. As the public institution closest to the citizens in the risk-oriented disaster management process, municipalities should be given important duties and powers. In this study, the importance of municipalities in disaster management is emphasized. In terms of disaster management, within the framework of the responsibilities given to municipalities in the legislation and plans, the institutional disaster management structures of metropolitan municipalities, provincial municipalities, district municipalities and town municipalities, their strategic plans, regulations, disaster response plans and studies have been evaluated and suggestions have been developed.