Turkey-Earthquake: Emergency Situation Report (07.03.2023) – Türkiye

A devastating earthquake of 7.8 on the Richter scale hit Southern Türkiye in the early hours of 6 February (4.17 a.m.), with its epicenter in the Pazarcık district of Kahramanmaras province. The earthquake affected the neighboring provinces of Adıyaman, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, Malatya, Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Elazığ and Adana where about 14 million people reside including about 1,8 million Syrian refugees. A second major earthquake hit the region after 9 hours with 7.5 magnitude causing further severe damage and destruction of damaged buildings.

Severe aftershocks in Hatay and Malatya caused the further collapse of damaged buildings and an increase in the number of causalities. According to the statement of the Ministry of Interior dated 5 March, a total of 45,968 people lost their lives, of which 4,267 were under temporary protection status.

STL published its previous Situation Report on 3 March. Below are listed a number of region-wide developments for the period of 4-7 March.

• The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Türkiye office estimated that the material damage in the earthquake will reach at least 100 billion dollars.

• As of 6 March, 9.6% of the United Nations’ $1 billion Flash Appeal has been collected. The most financed sectors are food safety (33%), coordination (48%), and emergency telecommunications and logistics (242%). The least funded sectors are education (2%) and multi-purpose cash assistance & social protection (0.3%).

• According to UNFPA, there are currently 226,000 pregnant women and it is estimated 25,000 births to happen within a month in disaster areas.

• Among the priority health concerns, WHO lists immediate trauma care for the injured and post-trauma rehabilitative care, provision of essential medicines and emergency kits, prevention and control of disease outbreaks, and access to psychosocial support.

• The Minister of Health made a statement regarding the water shortage and the risk of epidemics in Hatay. Stating that network water was supplied partially to heavily affected areas, the Minister warned that network water should not be used as drinking water. The Minister also said, “There is no epidemic situation at the moment, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. We need to provide safe water and food as well as a hygienic environment”.

• According to the statement of the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, 214,577 buildings are identified as heavily damaged, demolished or in urgent need of demolition. It is stated that 96% of the buildings to be demolished were built prior to the 1999 earthquake after which stricter building codes were adopted.

• According to the ‘2023 Earthquakes Displacement’ report prepared by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a total of 2.7 million people left the disaster area.

• UN OCHA mapped the sectors and locations of NGOs operational in the earthquake zone. As of 7 March, a total of 51 NGOs are registered in the OCHA sector coordination system and are operational in the disaster area. The organizations that operate in the ten sectors can be accessed via the map.

• According to official statement from the Minister of Interior, 223 NGOs, 23 of which are international, are working in Hatay alone.

• STL continues its emergency response in 11 provinces, of which most are in the earthquake area, namely in Hatay, Adıyaman, Kahramanmaraş, Diyarbakır, Sanlıurfa, Mardin, Batman, Adana, Mersin, Ankara and Istanbul. STL has programming in the sectors of shelter/NFI, FSL, WASH, education, temporary settlement support, MHPSS and protection.