Türkiye, tektonik oluşumu, jeolojik yapısı, topografyası ve meteorolojik özellikleri gibi nedenlerle, her zaman çeşitli doğal afet tehlikelerine sahip olan bir ülke olmuştur. Depremlerin en önemli afet olduğu ülkemizde nüfusun %92’si, yerleşim bölgelerinin % 95’i ve sanayi tesislerinin önemli bölümü bu deprem bölgelerinde bulunmaktadır. Her yıl giderek artan can ve mal kayıplarının yanında, milyarlarca dolar ekonomik kayıp meydana gelmektedir. Can kayıplarının büyük çoğunluğu bilinçsizlik, tedbirsizlik ve denetimsizlikten kaynaklanmaktadır. Çok yönlü ve çok disiplinli bir eğitimi gerektiren afet olgusunun, eğitim süreçlerinde yeterince yer almamaktadır. Bu ise bilinçli toplum yetiştirilmesi sürecindeki en önemli eksikliklerden birisidir.Ülkemizde kamu yöneticisi yetiştiren kamu yönetimi veya siyaset bilimi ve kamu yönetimi bölümlerinde afet farkındalığını arttıracak, afetin çok boyutlu yönetim anlayışı içerisinde bir içerikle eğitimini gerçekleştirecek bir müfredat programı yeterince yer almamaktadır. Bazı üniversitelerde lisans düzeyinde yer alan afet yönetimi dersinin afetin boyutlarının düşünülerek yer almasının gerekliliği ortadadır.Bu çalışmada, afet yönetimi eğitiminin gerekliliği, afetin bütün boyutları ile irdeleneceği içeriğe sahip derslerin kamu yönetimi ve siyaset bilimi ve kamu yönetimi bölümlerinde yer almasının önemi, afet gerçeği, ilgili literatür ve üniversitelerin programları incelenerek ortaya konulmaktadır. Çalışmanın çıktısı afet yönetimi derslerinin toplumsal farkındalık, zarar azaltma süreçlerine etkisi bağlamında ortaya konulmaktadır.

The phenomenon of disasters can be associated with the inner-dynamics of nature or the effect of the human factor in the process of technology use, and their results may be identified with the loss of property and the loss of life. On a conceptual basis, causing physical, economic, social, and psychological damages and interfering with the ongoing life, the disaster affects all parts or a certain part of society through its formation. If the local forces are not enough to overcome the problems, the results might not be easily manageable.Natural disasters, i.e. earthquake, flood, landslide, avalanche, tsunami, volcano eruption etc., can be listed as technology and/or man-made disasters, major industrial accidents, nuclear explosions, biological weapons, climate change and so on. The distorted development of cities and the increase in the number of people living in the city make cities vulnerable to disasters. The phenomenon of disaster, which has led to the displacement of many civilizations since the formation of the world, is seen as an important problem with the effect of the urbanization level. In recent years, irregular precipitation, insufficient infrastructure and distorted urbanization, especially in big cities bring life to a halt from time to time.Turkey, because of its tectonic formation, geological structure, topography, and certain meteorological reasons, has always been a country with a variety of natural hazard risks. Our country is located in the Mediterranean, Alpine and Himalayan seismic zones which is one of the active seismic zones. 92% of the population, 95% of the settlements are located in the earthquake zone of varying degrees, and a significant part of the industry is still in the earthquake-risk zone. In addition to the loss of life and property, every year, billion dollars of economic losses occur. The vast majority of life losses are caused by unconsciousness and the lack of supervision. The phenomenon of disaster, which requires a multidisciplinary education, is not sufficiently involved in educational processes. This is one of the most important deficiencies in the process of upbringing a conscious community.In every aspect of educational life, the impact of education on the process of acquiring the correct behaviour is known. Education should start in the family and continue throughout primary, secondary and high school education. In the education process, the fact that disaster phenomenon is included in the subject of many courses is not enough to change the behaviours. On the other hand, in our country, a multi-dimensional understanding of disaster management is not incorporated into the content of a curriculum adequately, but a public curriculum, to be included in the curricula of the public administration or political science and public administration departments will increase disaster awareness. In some universities, it is clear that the disaster management course at the undergraduate level should take into account the dimensions of disaster.The graduates of the departments, which offer undergraduate level education and include the disaster management courses, start a job that requires more emergency information. However, it is even more important to use the principles of management science in order to take measures before a disaster or on the time of a disaster.It is important for a student, enrolled in a department related to public administration, to deal with the management dimension beyond disaster education, which is one of the most important problems of the country and is crucial to raise successful disaster managers in the future.  Although the distance education programs related to disaster management have content that will make a significant contribution to awareness education, disaster training requires various applications and more work in the field. Incorporating disaster management training into the bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs, the deficiencies of disasters management in public administration can be fulfilled, thus resolution and understanding of new public administration need to be shaped with an understanding of community participation. Disaster cases in the course content should consist of Turkey's disaster potential, urban planning and disaster relationship, disaster law, disaster psycho-social impact and it is important to examine the effect of disaster management and international development within the scope of the course.  In this study, the aims are (1) to reveal how important raising disaster awareness in university education which is the upper stage of education is and (2) to give necessary information about disaster management in various areas of public administration to minimize the loss of life and property. The scope of the study is limited to the introduction of courses on disaster management within the curricula of public administration and political science or public administration departments of universities. In the present study, related research studies are mentioned, the current situation in Turkey is examined and why this topic is discussed in the university curriculum is explained.