The earthquake that struck Elazığ province with its epicentre in Sivrice district has deeply saddened the country as a whole. Once again, we wish Allah’s mercy upon our citizens who lost their lives and a speedy recovery to the wounded. We would like to express our sincere sympathies to all our citizens affected by the earthquake.
Our state, together with all relevant institutions and organizations, is taking the necessary measures and carrying out the necessary operations by prioritizing the citizens’ security and safety of life.
The media has significant responsibility in this process as an important tool for informing the public.
- The media should avoid using expressions and images that can cause public panic and outrage; a broadcasting language that is informative yet particularly reassuring should be adopted.
- The statements and briefings of our ministers in the region at present and of other public authorities should be taken as the basis.
- Disinformative posts on social media should not be given credit.
- For accurate information, official sources should certainly be followed and emergency notifications by the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) should be taken into account.
- Unconfirmed images and information should not be published or shared in any way.
- A similar approach should be adopted on the social media accounts of media outlets.
- Officials assigned in the earthquake region including, in particular, the chiefs of civilian and administrative authorities should not be occupied by the members of the media to the extent that could interfere with the operations.
- It should be remembered that it is the responsibility of everyone involved in earthquake management to ensure that all communication tools, and especially telephones, are not unnecessarily kept busy, particularly in the earthquake region.
- It should be considered that the warnings of public authorities and experts about security and the safety of life as well as briefings on earthquake preparedness and what to do during an earthquake become more important.