Strategic Disaster Volunteering Study by BAUN Academicians
The academic study signed by scholars including Dr. Salih Tosun, a faculty member of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Balıkesir University (BAUN) Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, made a significant contribution to the international literature by addressing the strengths and weaknesses of disaster volunteering, as well as the opportunities and threats it faces, within the framework of SWOT analysis and by offering strategic solution proposals.
Conducted by Dr. Salih Tosun of BAUN through a TÜBİTAK 1002 project, with contributions from Dr. Mehmet Gülşen from the Medical Documentation and Secretariat Program of BAUN İvrindi Vocational School of Health Services, and Prof. Dr. Gökçe Cerev, Prof. Dr. Doğa Başar Sarıipek, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bora Yenihan from the Department of Labor Economics at Kocaeli University Faculty of Political Sciences, the study entitled “Volunteer-based disaster response during the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes: a SWOT analysis” was published in Natural Hazards, a SCI-Expanded Q1 journal ranked in the top quartile of international journal indexes.
Dr. Salih Tosun: “Disaster Volunteering Offers Strong Social Potential in Türkiye”
Providing information about the study, Dr. Salih Tosun stated that the research aimed to evaluate the volunteer-based disaster response carried out in Türkiye after the February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes through in-depth interviews with volunteers and volunteer coordinators, as well as field observations, within the framework of SWOT analysis. He noted that the study examined the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of volunteering and developed comprehensive strategic solution proposals accordingly. According to Tosun, the analysis revealed that the large number of volunteers, the spirit of social solidarity, rapid mobilization capacity, and the representation of different professional groups stood out among the main strengths. Among the weaknesses, he identified lack of training, coordination deficiencies, the inability to ensure continuity in volunteering, and security and logistical problems. Tosun also emphasized that the potential of the young population, collaborations with non-governmental organizations, educational opportunities, and new technologies offer important opportunities, while uncontrolled volunteering, malicious actors, cultural incompatibilities, and insufficient administrative capacity were identified as major threats.
Referring to the SWOT findings obtained in the study, Dr. Salih Tosun stated that they developed four main strategic approaches to make disaster volunteering more effective and sustainable. In this context, he emphasized the importance of increasing volunteers’ knowledge, skills, and field competencies through standardized training programs covering the periods before, during, and after disasters. Tosun noted that it is necessary to establish a strong coordination and communication infrastructure in which volunteers are registered under a central structure and task distribution and information flow are managed through digital systems. Stressing that certification, recognition, rewarding, and feedback mechanisms are vital to ensuring the continuity of volunteering, Tosun also stated that identity verification, insurance, and logistical support systems based on volunteer safety should be planned in advance and institutionalized in order to increase effectiveness and reduce risks in disaster areas. He underlined that disaster volunteering in Türkiye has strong social potential and that transforming this potential into an institutional, planned, and sustainable structure is of vital importance. He further emphasized that the strategies developed are not only guiding for Türkiye, but also for countries with similar socio-cultural structures and high disaster risk.
Article access link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11069-025-07851-7
