Cooperation on emergencies next in growing Chinese-Turkish ties

China and Turkey, which have enjoyed rapidly improving ties in recent years, now seek to boost cooperation with regard to disaster management. Mehmet Güllüoğlu, head of Turkey's state-run Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) who visited China last week for a series of talks, spoke to Anadolu Agency (AA) about his visit. "We invited a delegation from China to Turkey to see what AFAD does. It will be win-win for us to have China see our work and to learn from their experience," he said.

Güllüoğlu says China is "one of the countries to follow in terms of use of technology" and "a country we can learn more from," adding that they hope both countries can cooperate in disaster and emergency management in third countries.

AFAD, founded in 2009, a decade after one of the greatest earthquakes in Turkish history killed tens of thousands of people, grew into a major disaster agency in less than 10 years, with its work in the aftermath of disasters and humanitarian aid operations around the world. "We shared with our Chinese counterparts our work on analyzing disaster risks and risk reduction," Güllüoğlu said. "China is a very big and populated country. It is home to a wide array of [natural] disasters from earthquakes to hurricanes, landslides and floods. Climate change makes its impact felt more and more day-by-day in natural disasters and the frequency of occurrence of disasters increased both in China and Turkey. We need to be more prepared for disasters whose number and impact will increase even more," he said.