The RAIN Project
Overview

Raising Awareness · Building Resilience · Connecting Nations

In February 2023, Türkiye experienced the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes — described as the “disaster of the century”. The catastrophe triggered an international call for assistance and mobilised volunteer organisations, public institutions, and the wider international community. The Haymana district alone sheltered more than 500 earthquake victims in its thermal hotels, while staff of the Haymana District Directorate of National Education worked voluntarily, both in the disaster zone and locally, to make sure aid reached those who needed it.

During this process, the shortage of personnel with sufficient knowledge and equipment in disaster management became impossible to ignore. It revealed a shared need: to strengthen cooperation before disasters strike, to sustain the motivation of volunteers, and to train people able to provide psychosocial support. This is not a problem unique to Haymana — it is common across the partner countries. Türkiye faces earthquakes, floods, and wildfires; Italy contends with volcanic eruptions and floods; Portugal with floods and forest fires.

Disasters take lives and property in an instant, disrupt social life, and overwhelm the capacity of any single community to respond alone. Civic participation and volunteering are a responsibility shared by every individual — an awareness best instilled from an early age. Because the partner countries face similar risks, international cooperation and capacity building matter in every respect. This project works to strengthen pre-disaster capacity so that post-disaster response becomes faster and more effective: building trained volunteer teams, expanding psychosocial support, and embedding volunteer systems inside institutions.