Addressing COVID-19 in Terms of Disaster Management and Evaluation of Public Fear Level

Mankind has faced many disasters and epidemics throughout history. Many people lost their lives or were harmed in various ways due to disasters and epidemics. In this study, which was carried out in this context, it was aimed to deal with COVID-19, which affected the world and Turkey, in terms of disaster management and to evaluate the level of fear of the people. In the study, in which quantitative research techniques were used, Ahorsu et al. (2020) developed by Ladikli, et al. (2020) adapted into Turkish by COVID-19 Fear Scale (7 items) 5-point Likert method (1. Strongly Disagree, 2. Disagree, 3. Undecided, 4. Agree, 5. Strongly Agree) was used. The study was carried out in Trabzon between the dates 21.01.2021-21.02.2021. In the gender distribution of the participants, 42.7% were women; According to the marital status distribution, 57.3% of which are male individuals, 57.1% of the participants are single; It was determined that 42.9% of them were married. It was determined that the rate of those who had COVID-19 disease was (13.7%), and the rate of those who did not have the disease (86.3%). The mean of the COVID-19 Fear scale was 2.52, and the standard deviation was 0.98. To measure the reliability of the study, the Cronbach Alpha's test was applied and the Alpha's coefficient was found to be 0.87. Fear of COVID-19 was considered in terms of gender variable and a statistically significant difference was found since p=0.000 value was less than p<0.050. When examined in terms of age distribution; Ages 18-23 (p=0.000), age 24-29 (p=0.000), age 30-35 (p=0.001), age 36-41 (p=0.000) and age 42-47 (A statistically significant difference was found between the p=0.000) groups. The pandemic has affected Turkey as well as the world. It can be said that all kinds of changes brought by the epidemic cause differentiation on the individual and society. It is thought that it is important to raise awareness in order to cope with the psychological effects of the epidemic individually and socially. In addition, considering the effect of the epidemic; It is thought that it is important to examine the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of disaster.