Earthquake in Türkiye & Syria: How To Help

Five months after February’s earthquakes, residents in southern Türkiye and northern Syria continue the difficult task of recovering from the devastation and repairing their communities.

Project HOPE is supporting earthquake survivors on both sides of the border through ongoing shelter, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), mobile medical unit (MMU), and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs. Our team is also coordinating with local health facilities to provide much-needed medical equipment, including mobility devices, oxygen cylinders, infant incubators, bedside monitors, and solar water chlorination systems.

Project HOPE has registered as a recognized international non-governmental organization in Türkiye, paving the way for a longer-term presence in the country to provide continued support for earthquake survivors.

To continuously and effectively respond to the needs of affected communities, Project HOPE has provided accommodation containers in Adıyaman and Kahramanmaraş to house health workers who have been displaced from their homes. We will also continue to work alongside our local partners to support the community with health support, mental health services, and basic needs around shelter and sanitation.

With a localized base in Gaziantep, Project HOPE is committed to continuing to support those impacted by the earthquakes.

Read more about our work in our latest press release

As part of Project HOPE’s commitment to the localization of humanitarian aid in Türkiye and Syria, we have established partnerships with numerous local organizations in both countries and are in the process of expanding that network.

To date, Project HOPE has procured 75 housing containers across Türkiye to address basic shelter needs for displaced populations and responders. Forty units have arrived in Adıyaman as part of the container city currently being constructed. The Project HOPE containers will be located adjacent to University Hospital to support displaced health staff. An additional five containers have arrived in Kahramanmaraş to house health workers identified by the Ministry of Health, and Project HOPE delivered 10 more containers to the Turkish humanitarian organization Dünya Doktorları Derneği in Hatay Province to provide shelter for health workers and essential services such as a public kitchen and laundry service.

Recognizing the need to support earthquake survivors with disabilities, Project HOPE also delivered 150 mobility devices, including wheelchairs, walkers, and crutches to the Gaziantep Ministry of Health. Also, seven infant incubators were delivered to Gaziantep Cengiz Gokcek Gynecology and Pediatrics Hospital, with an additional seven currently en route.

Project HOPE has distributed 3,000 hygiene kits to the Ministry of Family and Social Services in Kahramanmaraş and, through a partner, is coordinating the distribution of an additional 10,000 hygiene kits to camps throughout the affected region.

Get the full update on our response in our latest situation report here.

Extensive rain have caused flash flooding, trapping cars and people and worsening access to basic services. Telecommunication systems are down in some areas and water supply has been heavily compromised.

This torrential rain has impacted both formal and informal displacement settlements for those initially displaced by the earthquakes, flooding tent communities and further compromising the already precarious water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) systems. As a result of this flooding, at least 10 people have died and at least five are reported missing. Among the deceased are five Syrian nationals who drowned in a basement apartment during the March 15 flooding in Sanliurfa.

Get the full update on our response in our latest situation report here.

Project Hope’s Emergency Response Team in Türkiye conducted a rapid needs assessment of camps, health facilities, and other locations serving earthquake-impacted populations in Adıyaman, Gaziantep, and Kahramanmaraş.  

After the February earthquakes, over 1.5 million people across Türkiye and Syria were rendered homeless and without necessities. Now, survivors are taking refuge in tents, makeshift shelters, settlement camps, or the remnants of destroyed buildings. To fully recover from this crisis, impacted communities will need coordinated, targeted, and sustained intervention.  

Project HOPE has identified the following urgent needs: health clinics and medical supplies; mental health and protection services; access to hygiene supplies and potable water; as well as shelter and essential infrastructure. 

Read more about this ongoing crisis in the full Rapid Needs Assessment. 

Project HOPE is identifying partners to provide MHPSS for health workers, many of whom have been traumatized by the loss they have experienced and/or witnessed. The Adıyaman University Hospital manager conveyed that his team is “often on the verge of tears” due to stress.

Meanwhile, efforts are underway to deliver additional containers in Antakya (20 units) and Kahramanmaraş (20 units) to be used by local authorities to facilitate the administration of essential  services to displaced populations. Project HOPE is also coordinating a distribution of 15,000 hygiene kits through a partner to the ten sites assessed for the report mentioned above.

Project HOPE continues to respond to the needs of the impacted populations across both Türkiye and Syria. Currently, Project HOPE is in the process of delivering an interagency health kit to a partner in Syria, which contains one ton of medicines and medical supplies and will support the primary health needs of 10,000 people over the course of three months.

In Türkiye, Project HOPE has delivered generators through the Ministry of Health to a large shelter settlement in Gaziantep, as well as a substantial number of hygiene kits, standard blankets, thermal  blankets, and sleeping bags to impacted communities in Adiyaman.

Project HOPE’s team in Türkiye has distributed its first two generators in Nurdagi, a city near Gaziantep. The team is also mobilizing 100 infant incubators for import and distribution through the Turkish Ministry of Health. Project HOPE will begin distribution of hundreds of sleeping bags this week, as well as 2,000 disaster hygiene kits and 1,000 infant hygiene kits that have arrived in Türkiye. The team has also identified a manufacturer to produce containers that can be outfitted to house health care workers or to function as field clinics.

Project HOPE’s team is communicating with local partners operating in Syria to respond to the immediate health needs. This is likely to include supporting program activities of partners as well as the potential delivery of medicines and medical supplies to the impacted communities.

Early next week, Project HOPE will begin distribution of thousands of thermal blankets, standard blankets, and sleeping bags, as well as 2,000 disaster hygiene kits and 1,000 infant hygiene kits. The team also has identified a manufacturer to produce containers that can be outfitted to house health care workers or to function as field clinics.

Project HOPE is working to identify additional local Turkish vendors for the procurement of medical supplies, hygiene kits, and generators for distribution to the Ministry of Health and impacted health facilities.

The Emergency Response Team has mobilized 100 infant incubators for import and distribution to the Turkish Ministry of Health. Additionally, Project HOPE is actively procuring and distributing thousands of thermal blankets, standard blankets, and sleeping bags, as well as 3,000 family and infant hygiene kits to the impacted areas. The team has identified a manufacturer to produce shelter containers that will be used to house health care workers in Adiyaman and can also function as field clinics in other cities.

The Emergency Response Team has mobilized 100 infant incubators for import and distribution to the Turkish Ministry of Health. Project HOPE is actively procuring and distributing thousands of blankets, standard blankets, and sleeping bags, as well as 3,000 family and infant hygiene kits to the impacted areas.

Project HOPE continues to work with our partners to respond to immediate needs in southern Türkiye following the February 6 earthquake. Through our partners, Project HOPE is providing direct medical and psychosocial support in the affected areas, serving those who are displaced. The response team of 12 includes caseworkers, a midwife, psychologists, and logisticians. Project HOPE is also distributing blankets to the displaced.

Project HOPE’s Spanish-based partner, SAMU, continues to conduct search and recovery operations with a K-9 team in affected areas. Our Emergency Response Team is also continuing to communicate with partners operating in Syria in order to best respond to immediate health needs.

As the death toll from Monday’s earthquakes tops 20,000, Project HOPE is now communicating with partners operating in Syria to respond to immediate health needs.

Our Emergency Response Team on the ground has conducted needs assessments in affected areas and identified access points in Gaziantep, Adana, Adiyaman, Kahramanmaras, and Antakya to inform our response activities and re-establish supply chain routes.

Project HOPE continues to work with our partners to respond to immediate needs, including the deployment of a Type 1 Mobile Medical Team on standby pending government approval. The Emergency Response Team is also mobilizing additional surge support.

A state of emergency was declared for 10 provinces in southeast Türkiye, which is home to a total of 15 million people, including 1.7 Syrian refugees. In each province, infrastructure has been damaged or disrupted, including major airports. The extensive destruction has interfered with humanitarian supplies reaching the region. Gaziantep Oguzeli International Airport has closed all air traffic except to aircrafts carrying emergency aid and search and rescue personnel. The nearby port of Iskenderun, damaged in the quake, endured a significant fire on Tuesday, making it further unusable as an entry port for humanitarian supplies. Several major roads in Hatay Province are either blocked or impassable. Those that are not blocked are overcrowded with emergency responders and people fleeing.

Project HOPE has partnered with SAMU, a Spanish-based humanitarian response organization, and Dünya Doktorları Derneği, a local relief organization. Through our collaborations with these  partners, we have dispatched a K-9 search and rescue team to the earthquake zone in Türkiye to conduct lifesaving operations at this critical time.

 

Project HOPE is responding to this emergency and has a team on the ground with additional emergency response teams en route to support affected populations. In the first 24 hours after the disaster, our staff joined other first responders in assisting survivors out of the rubble and directing people to medical services. Our staff also surveyed the affected areas to identify access points to major cities, such as Gaziantep and Antakya, which will be vital for medical supply chains.

Project HOPE has partnered with SAMU, a Spanish-based humanitarian response organization, and Dünya Doktorlar Derneği, a Turkish-based relief organization. Through our collaboration with these partners, we are deploying a K-9 search and rescue team to the earthquake zone in Türkiye to conduct lifesaving operations at this critical time.

On February 6, 2023, at 4:17 a.m. local time, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit near Gaziantep, Türkiye. A separate 7.5-magnitude earthquake along the same fault line struck southeastern Türkiye about nine hours later on Monday afternoon. The back-to-back earthquakes were some of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in Türkiye and were felt as far away as Egypt and Lebanon. More than two dozen aftershocks have rocked the region, creating unstable conditions for rescuers and survivors.

At last count, more than 2,300 people have been killed, 5,000 are injured, and thousands of buildings have collapsed in Türkiye and Syria. These numbers are expected to rise as rescue workers conduct operations. The earthquake struck as a winter storm is affecting the region, so as residents fled their homes they were met with not only near-freezing temperatures, but with several inches of snow on the ground and significant wind chills. These dangerous conditions are affecting not only civilians displaced without shelter, but also the rescue teams.