On the first anniversary of devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, millions of survivors remain destitute and traumatized while still awaiting pledged assistance they desperately need, say U.N. and relief organizations.
“A year since a series of earthquakes killed 50,000 people in Turkey and 5,900 people in Syria, thousands of families have yet to heal from the impact of the devastation,” Martin Griffiths, the U.N.’s undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said Tuesday.
“Survivors live with the loss and trauma of those frightful days,” he said. “As I saw firsthand in both countries, entire communities lost their homes and thousands of buildings were flattened, with schools, hospitals, mosques and churches destroyed or damaged.”
Turkey is in one of the world’s most active earthquake regions.
The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said hundreds of thousands of new homes would be built as a result of the quake, but so far, only a fraction has been constructed.
Two consecutive 7.8 magnitude earthquakes struck southeast Turkey and northwest Syria on the night of February 6, 2023, affecting more than 15 million people and leaving about 1.5 million homeless.
Most of the flattened buildings remain in a state of disrepair and hundreds of thousands of the homeless live in temporary shelters or tents.
“The plight of millions of displaced people and their hosts has deteriorated,” said Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR. Mantoo noted that in northwest Syria alone, “More than 40,000 people remain displaced by the earthquake and are residing in 70 temporary reception centers.”
Of the 3.4 million refugees hosted by Turkey, Mantoo said, some 1.75 million live in the quake-devastated region, which is creating a huge burden for refugees and their Turkish hosts.
“With less money and increasing needs, many refugees — Syrians and others — are resorting to survival strategies like cutting food spending and borrowing more.
“The catastrophe has also taken an excruciating toll on the mental and emotional well-being of a long-suffering population,” she said.
The World Health Organization reports the disaster has wreaked havoc on the economies of Turkey and Syria, in addition to affecting the well-being of many of those citizens.
“Health needs remain immense a year on as many people are still suffering from physical and mental trauma,” said Tarik Jasarevic, WHO spokesperson.
“The consequences of a disaster of this scale will last for many years to come, and one year on, the suffering of the people goes on. Many people continue to live in temporary shelters, dealing with loss and mental health trauma,” he said. He noted the importance of international support to help these destitute communities recover from the ongoing disaster and receive much needed health care and other services.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies agrees that much more international support is required to meet the pressing humanitarian and recovery needs of millions of quake survivors.
The IFRC reports that thousands of Turkish and Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers responded quickly to the twin disasters, reaching and providing help to 10.5 million quake victims in Turkey and 3.5 million in Syria.
“One year on, the needs of those affected by one of the century’s deadliest natural disasters remain persistent,” said Jessie Thomson, head of the IFRC Turkey delegation.
Speaking from the capital, Ankara, she told journalists in Geneva Tuesday that “Despite this amazing progress and scale of response to date, the long road to recovery remains persistent.
“The affected people now require our unwavering support in rebuilding their businesses, recovering lost livelihoods and beginning the slow journey back to normalcy,” she said.
“Now is not the time to scale down. In fact, we need to redouble our efforts,” she said, adding that the IFRC’s $575 million appeal for Turkey and Syria was seriously underfunded.
Mads Brinch Hansen, head of the IFRC Syria delegation, said Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers have provided a humanitarian lifeline to millions of quake survivors.
“We have delivered over 23 million humanitarian services and continue to distribute relief items and strengthen the resilience of families in the earthquake-hit areas, to those displaced throughout the country and their host communities,” he said, speaking from Damascus.
“Now, the immediate earthquake response may have concluded, but the emergency persists,” he said.
“Funding in Syria has been declining over the past five years, and we are expecting it to continue to decline,” he said. “Given that there are many other issues in the world at this time, I fear that Syria has become a bit of a forgotten crisis.”
