UNICEF Türkiye Humanitarian Situation Report No. 18: 01 September – 31 October 2023 – Türkiye

Highlights

• As of 31 October 2023, UNICEF, together with government and civil society partners, has reached 1,199,030 children and caregivers with mental health and psychosocial support through 47 child, adolescent and family support hubs, and just over 3.5 million women, boys and girls, including through social media, with gender-based violence mitigation messaging and awareness raising information.

• Through UNICEF support, 3,890,459 people have access to safe water through water trucking, provision of chlorine/chemicals, water storage, water quality testing and repair of water supply systems. 866,482 people have also received hygiene supplies including hygiene kits for families, babies and people with special needs. Moreover, UNICEF has reached 1,359,297 people with improved sanitation services, including toilets, showers, and solid waste management.

• UNICEF supported 901,951 children to access formal and non-formal education, including early childhood education. 1,155,258 children received education supplies.

• Over 98,000 individuals were reached with heaters, blankets, winter clothes kits and summer clothes.

• More than 1.3 million earthquake affected children have access to immunization services through UNICEF’s provision of vaccines to the Ministry of Health.

• UNICEF has a funding gap of over US$ 56 million (29%) against a funding requirement of US$ 196 million. While there are needs across all sectors, the humanitarian cash transfer intervention remains the most significantly underfunded, and critically required in the upcoming winter season and the protracted displacement, leaving those now most vulnerable in critical need.

Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs

While the data on the total number of people living in informal temporary settlements for all affected provinces
remains limited, based on findings from the third round of Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), as of October 2023,
the number of people in informal sites within the most affected four provinces (Adıyaman, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş,
Malatya) and two districts (Nurdağı and Islahiye) of Gaziantep is 352,628. According to data from Ministry of Interior
Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), the number of people living in formal container sites
stands at 580,602 people, living in 347 container sites in 11 affected provinces (Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Adıyaman,
Osmaniye, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Malatya, Diyarbakir, Adana, Kilis and Elazig).

As winter approaches, with deteriorating, cold weather conditions and the already existing and now protracted
economical strain on families, the needs for non-food items (NFIs) has increases. UNICEF, in line with needs
defined by the partners, has developed a winterization plan to cover the needs of families residing in informal as
well as formal settlements.

Access to education had been hampered for nearly 4 million children, including 350,000 refugee and migrant
children. Prior to the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, functional learning spaces, teacher accommodation,
and student and teacher transportation were reported as the top needs for the education sector. As the new school
year started in September 2023, access to education for earthquake-affected children remains a priority for the
recovery and reconstruction process. According to MoNE, as of September 2023, 936 schools and 11,728
classrooms were heavily affected by the earthquakes. In the 11 provinces affected by the earthquakes, 21,500
students are receiving education in container/light steel classrooms. Moreover, MoNE conducted a needs
assessment to identify the accommodation needs of approximately 220,000 teachers affected by the earthquakes
and established 11,000 containers for them to live in.

UNICEF, in line with agreed programmes with line ministries, municipalities, Civil Society Organizations (CSO)
partners and donors, continues to reinforce and leverage existing national systems and work with municipalities
and civil society organizations to respond to the significant humanitarian needs in the sectors of WASH, child
protection, and education. UNICEF-supported humanitarian assistance continues to include service delivery
support through mobile, facility and communal-based approaches, cash-based assistance to affected households,
supplies, and technical support while ensuring appropriate age, gender, and disability-inclusive services for children
and their families/caregivers.