Voices

FROM THE FIELD

JICA Office

EminSenior Ozdamar Program Officer

When Emin Ozdamar was a student at Anka- on the Northern Anatolian Fault Line resulted in ra University in 1981, he was interested to learn more than 18,000 deaths. When Japanese disaster about one of his professors’ experiences with JICA. relief teams arrived in province after the He started collecting information about Japan and earthquake, Ozdamar was with the mission. The JICA and later became a Japanese Government team rescued one person and helped the victims. Scholarship student at then Tokyo University of After observing the poor construction quality and Fisheries, where he studied from 1989 to 1991. the disorder in the community, Ozdamar realized The JICA Turkey Office was established in that Turkey needed disaster awareness programs. 1995. At the time, Ozdamar was Assistant Pro- He began working creating and implementing DRR fessor at Ondokuz Mayis Universty in Turkey. He projects. He supported training of more than 250 later worked in the aquaculture department of the district and deputy governors and 300 city mayors; Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, through some are now governors or mayors in such disaster- which he became involved in the early stages of prone provinces as and . a JICA project to develop fish culture in the Black The number of JICA’s projects in Turkey has Sea. He utilized his abilities, knowledge, and ex- been declining over the past decade. However, Ja- perience to ensure the project’s successful start-up pan’s experience is still needed; sharing both coun- and implementation. His success working on that tries’ experiences will also be beneficial to other project further motivated him to join JICA in 1997. disaster-prone countries. Ozdamar hopes that ex- Ozdamar’s first involvement with JICA was with change between Japan, Turkey, and other coun- fishery and disaster risk reduction (DRR) projects. tries will make his country more disaster-resilient, He has since worked as a national chief of techni- in addition to raising awareness of other essential cal cooperation projects in DRR, agriculture and topics such as the environment, education, and fisheries, regional development, and related third- food security. He continues to work as a bridge be- country training programs. tween Turkey and Japan, facilitating the exchange His work with JICA has had an impact on land of knowledge and experience to build a safer and as well as at sea. In 1999, two huge earthquakes better world.

JANUARY 2018 JICA'S WORLD 15