Türki̇ye Earthquake 2023 Humanitarian Response Overview, 17 May 2023

Intersectoral situational analysis

Humanitarian needs remain 100 days after devastating earthquakes hit southern Türkiye on 6 February, killing more than 50,000 people and creating widespread damage and destruction. More than half a million buildings sustained significant damage forcing some 3 million people to relocate. Humanitarian organizations immediately responded with significant in-kind assistance leveraging established government relief mechanisms and delivery systems. In parallel and with increasing scale, humanitarian partners are complementing government efforts with direct assistance initially focused on informal settlements, rural locations and specialized needs.

To date, partners have directly provided 4 million people with some sort of humanitarian assistance and have provided in kind goods and services through the government to benefit an estimated 2.3 million people. However, the sheer scale of the disaster means that many people continue to have significant unmet needs.

Many of the approximately 2.6 million people (650,000 households) currently living in tents in both formal and informal sites are likely to continue doing so during the hot summer months, with basic living conditions and limited services. This raises humanitarian concerns from shelter adequacy, health and protection perspectives, especially for those facing protracted stays. For those who have shown an interest in returning to their home areas, adequate shelter, essential services such as water and health care, and income-generating activities may not be available – particularly in rural and remote areas – jeopardizing their health and physical and mental well-being.

The government response, with continued support from the humanitarian community, has increasingly focused on implementing its relief-to-recovery strategy by assisting eligible households living in tents to move to formally managed and serviced sites, with housing recovery options (moving to container cities or receiving rental accommodation support). Humanitarian organizations, seeking to complement government efforts and address gaps in assistance at informal tent settlements, are prioritizing repairs to lightly damaged dwellings, cash assistance and provision of containers or relief housing units, while assisting the most vulnerable households, who currently have little or no access to resources or services and very limited capacity to self-recover, especially those in rural locations. For those without access to clean water, kitchens, cooking utensils and fuel, the daily provision of hot meals has been their primary source of food since the earthquakes. To date, first-line food assistance through hot meals and soup kitchens has been provided by 18 organizations, reaching some 2.1 million people. About 376 mobile kitchens were functioning, many operated by the Turkish Red Crescent and other humanitarian actors.

At 100 days following the disaster, some partners intend to reduce or conclude the provision of cooked meals and transition to food packages or cash-based assistance, as needed and where appropriate. The concern however is that many people accessing food assistance will remain living in tents and other basic shelters for a protracted period without the ability to cook for themselves. The food security sector is reviewing how best to address the food needs of those unable to resume independent cooking by mapping available services and locations in greatest need of food assistance and seeking additional funding for partners that can continue providing hot meals. To decrease reliance on cooked meals, people will require cooking items, cooking devices and fuel, water for cooking and dishwashing, fire safety information and management, and other considerations for specific individuals. Women and girls in particular face significant risks by cooking in unsafe locations such as damaged and abandoned buildings or in tents.

In locations where people have access to functioning kitchens, water supply, utensils and markets, transitioning from distribution of meals to cash-based interventions (or food packages where appropriate) is a priority, ensuring that provision of goods and services by humanitarian actors is safely accessible to people with specific needs. Factors such as distance, transportation, physical ability to carry items, and household economic pressures are key considerations in the planning of specific activities designed to prevent people from resorting to negative coping strategies or being vulnerable to sexual exploitation and abuse to meet their basic needs. Humanitarian organizations note that timely and clear information around when and where services will be starting or ending, and straightforward access to complaints and feedback mechanisms for community members are needed in order to minimize the impact of service transition for those who continue to need food assistance.

Cash-for-food and multipurpose cash assistance (MPCA) are preferred to replace in-kind assistance, which has distorted markets in some locations and may not have met people’s specific, diverse and evolving needs. Humanitarian actors are being advised to transition to cash-based projects, including MPCA, where markets are functioning, taking into account the sustainability of assistance, cost effectiveness and the level of market recovery in the affected areas.