The “8th USARGames 2026 Universities Search and Rescue Games,” organized under the coordination of the Civil Defence Organization Presidency, was held on 11 May 2026 at the Metehan Training and Exercise Area in Nicosia, with the participation of 22 universities from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Türkiye.
In the competitions designed based on disaster and emergency scenarios, university teams demonstrated their knowledge and skills in the fields of search and rescue, first aid, coordination, teamwork, and crisis management in practice. As part of the organization, participants competed in various stages including obstacle crossing, wooden bridge construction, aerial line rescue, concrete block dragging, rescuing injured persons from under masses, intervention in wreckage, and clean work.
In the competition featuring challenging stages, the Marmara University team became the first in the general classification with 102.94 points by showing superior performance; while Türkiye’s Ambassador to Nicosia Ali Murat Başçeri and President of the Civil Defense Organization Hakan Balaban stated that the organization constitutes an important platform in terms of developing young people's disaster awareness, field application skills, and team coordination abilities.
While strengthening inter-university cooperation, the competition also contributed to the training of qualified human resources prepared for disasters.
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