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Situation overview:
A devastating earthquake of 7.8 on the Richter scale hit Southern Turkey in the early hours of 6 February (4.17 a.m.), with epicenter in the Pazarcık district of Kahramanmaras province. The earthquake affected the neighboring provinces of Adıyaman, Kilis, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, Malatya, as well as Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Adana and Hatay, where around 13.5 million people reside including around 2 million Syrian refugees. According to WHO, the affected regions in Turkey and Syria are home to around 23 million people including 1.4 million children.1 Many aftershocks followed the earthquake and a second major earthquake hit the region after 9 hours with 7.5 magnitude causing serious further damage and destruction of damaged buildings.
According to the latest figures2, 38,044 people lost their lives and 108,068 people are injured. Damage surveys indicate that 56,080 buildings in 10 provinces collapsed or are heavily damaged. Due to the risk of further damage as a result of aftershocks, people are not able to go into their houses, therefore staying outdoors in the cold and rainy weather. Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport reported that a total of 237,000 people had been evacuated from the disaster area. Major power cuts and water cuts still observed in remote areas.
STL has published its previous Situation Report on 14 February, below are a number of regionwide developments for the period of 14-17 February.
• On 16 February, the authorities have announced that Elazığ has been declared a disaster-affected area. The number of affected provinces has increased to 11.
• The United Nations launched a three-month flash appeal for US$1 billion for Türkiye.
• Emergency Medicine Association of Türkiye (EMAT) stated that in the upcoming period, health sector priorities will be to increase availability of dialysis centers, orthotic and prosthetic equipment, and specialized physiotherapy centers.[1] EMAT estimates that 150-200k health workers were affected by the disaster, highlighting the need to provide psychological assistance to restore capacities in this sector.
• The Ministry of Health (MoH) has warned against using city water as drinking water. So far, chlorine measurements have been made at 1,485 points, and chlorination has been carried out in places with insufficient chlorine content. In the affected region, water samples from 415 different points were analyzed and 49 of them were found to be microbiologically non-compliant and necessary actions were initiated.[2]
• For refugees and asylum-seekers in Türkiye, an online page has been set up on the UNHCR Türkiye Help website for earthquake resources, including location-specific information and key hotline numbers: https://help.unhcr.org/turkiye. The information is available in Turkish, Arabic, and English.