Destructive earthquakes in southern Türkiye and northern Syria, April 6, 2023, Status Report 20 [EN/TR] – Türkiye

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Two months have passed since the disaster

“We’ve lived through the end of the world, and now we’re trying to get better.”

The International Blue Crescent Foundation for Relief and Development (IBC) would like to extend its deepest condolences to all those affected by the earthquake. IBC employees in the area are safe and accountable, although some have lost family members and loved ones and have seen their entire homes destroyed. Thank you to all who continue to mobilize and the heroic efforts of the many search and rescue teams. Tremendous and continued cooperation is needed to prevent further loss of life and suffering.

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Two months have passed since the earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6, which are defined as the largest disasters in recent years.

The Turkish Ministry of Interior announced that the number of casualties in the earthquakes that were the epicenter of Kahramanmaraş has risen to 50,399, and the identification of the people who lost their lives is still ongoing.

In Syria, which was affected by earthquakes, 8,476 people lost their lives.

On Wednesday, March 15, the earthquake zone experienced another disaster when heavy rains caused widespread destructive floods in Adiyaman and Şanlıurfa. Currently, 20 people are known to have lost their lives due to the floods.

While all these disasters are reported to have affected 16 percent of Turkey’s population, i.e. 14 million people, life in the region continues in tents, container cities and dormitories. On the other hand, the construction of permanent housing continues.

Those who experienced the largest earthquake ever recorded in Turkey’s history expressed their feelings by saying, “We have seen the end of the world.”

Noting that the need for shelter and water, sanitation and hygiene services remains very high, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said: “We urgently need more funds to help more than 5 million people.” 1 The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that only 28 percent of the $1 billion emergency fund calls have been met. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson Jens Laerke told a press conference that 3 million people were displaced in the earthquakes, which directly affected 9 million people, and called for an emergency.

We are now in what we call a humanitarian emergency. We are working to determine what the survivors need and how we can support them. We have 3 months for this. We will implement these projects and they will continue into the future. That is why I am still calling for support for the emergency relief campaign that we started for Turkey.”2 While a commitment of US$7 billion was made at the international donor conference held in Brussels on March 20, the findings were included in the “Turkey Earthquake” Recovery and Reconstruction Assessment Report, which explains the damage caused by the earthquakes, At the conference, where the report indicates that the damage caused by the earthquake amounted to about 103.6 billion US dollars.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) also stated that more than 20 percent of food production in Turkey was damaged in the earthquake, which affected 11 important agricultural provinces.

The FAO indicated that the earthquake-affected area in Turkey, known for its fertile lands, accounts for about 15 percent of the country’s agricultural income.

More than a third of the people in the quake zones make their living from farming but are now struggling under difficult conditions.

Besides the indescribable pain in the region for two months, aftershocks continue to scare survivors of the quake.

On the other hand, survivors demand long-term, sustainable, and effective support efforts.

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