Union of Municipalities of Turkey (UMT) and Mayor of Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality Yücel Yılmaz, accompanied by a delegation mayors and experts, paid a series of technical visits in Japan.
Mayor of Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality Fatma Şahin, Mayor of Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Alinur Aktaş, Mayor of Şanlıurfa Metropolitan Municipality Zeynel Abidin Beyazgül, Mayor of Adıyaman Municipality Dr. Süleyman Kılınç, Deputy Secretary General of UMT Halil İbrahim Azak participated in the visit programme which continued for 3 days in Tokyo and Kansai regions.
During three days of intensive meetings, the cooperation to be made in order to heal the wounds of the earthquakes that occurred on 6 February in Kahramanmaraş and affected 11 provinces was discussed. Within the scope of the schedule, technical examinations were also carried out on Japan's preventive measures and interventions regarding disasters.
Firstly, the delegation held a meeting with Yamada Kenji, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, and Ichiro Aisawa, Member of the House of Representatives of Japan and Member of Parliament of Japan, regarding the steps to be taken after the disaster, and then met with Korkut Güngen, Ambassador of Turkey to Tokyo and made evaluations regarding their contacts with Japan. The delegation held consultations at Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on the "Project for Capacity Building for Local Municipalities on Disaster Risk Reduction and Waste Management" in Hyogo Prefecture.
The delegation visited the memorial park built in the name of the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake that occurred in Japan in 1995, and the "Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institute", and also examined Japan's disaster experiences on site. The technical inspection visits, which were closely followed by many press organisations of Japan, especially the state broadcaster NHK, ended after the visit to Hokudan Earthquake Memorial Museum.