Turkiye Earthquake Response

It’s been just about eight months since two earthquakes of catastrophic proportions struck Türkiye and Northwest Syria in the early hours of February 6th, 2023. With the aftermath of these unexpected disasters and over 1,600 subsequent aftershocks, the road to recovery remains long. According to UN OCHA, an estimated 8.8 million people were affected by the mass destruction caused by the earthquakes and aftershocks, claiming over 50,000 lives and leaving tens of thousands of people injured. 

Concern Worldwide was already on the ground in Türkiye and Syria, uniquely positioning our teams to respond to the crisis within hours of its occurrence, quickly distributing blankets, sleeping mats, heaters, and creating temporary shelters where possible. While news of the sudden disasters has mostly departed from media headlines, the millions of people affected by the earthquakes rely on humanitarian assistance as their lifeline while they try to adjust to a new idea of normal. The widespread damage and devastation demolished homes, service infrastructure, and installations, leaving too many people without access to food, water, and shelter. Communities impacted are still working tirelessly to reconstruct their lives after enduring such an unprecedented natural disaster, and theirneeds change as the seasons do. When the earthquakes struck, the area affected was below freezing. The frigid conditions were soon replaced by intense summer heat, and the cyclical pattern continues as we enter the winter months of 2023.  

Our teams are supplying food kits which include items such as rice, pasta, oil, sugar, and beans; hygiene kits with soap, sanitary pads, shampoo, toothbrushes and towels, and baby kits; nappies, changing mats, children’s potties. Concern is also providing shelter kits with solar lamps, electric fans, mattresses, tarpaulins and commodes for people with disabilities, along with latrines, shower cabins and water tanks. These material goods help offer a level of support to the mental health and psychosocial well-being of those affected, who have endured unimaginable trauma.  

Along with our partners,Concern is providing lifesaving assistance to disaster-affected communities through the following response and anticipates having reached over 112,665 individuals by the end of October 2023:  

• Provision of water and sanitation services and hygiene items (inadequate sanitation facilities and services increase the risk of waterborne diseases, such as cholera and diarrhea)  
• Provision of emergency shelter and non-food items to earthquake-affected households  
• Provision of psychosocial support to improve individuals’ ability to cope with extreme shock and traumatic events, supporting their wellbeing 
• Multipurpose cash assistance, a resource that allows affected families to afford daily needs like food, shelter supplies, medical care, and clothes while also supporting local markets  

Our teams remain steadfast in our support of ongoing relief activities, as a full recovery still remains a distant goal for many. Families lost their loved ones, their homes, and their way of life and found themselves struggling to survive, faced with profound trauma. It's worthy of remembrance that Türkiye has the largest refugee population in the world, home to over 3.6 million Syrian refugees.The crisis that began on February 6th of 2023 not only exacerbated the humanitarian crisis already being faced in Türkiye and Syria...it created a new one altogether.