IBC has been working at full capacity since the first day to respond to the needs after the Kahramanmaraş-based earthquake.
The effects of the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes, which are defined as the biggest disasters of recent years, and the high-intensity aftershocks experienced thereafter continue.
AFAD announced that the loss of life in the earthquakes increased to 50 thousand 96 people, while the number of injured was 107 thousand 204.
Following the current determinations made by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the biggest needs in the region are shelter, food, water, sanitation, hygiene, health, nutrition and psychosocial support.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that there are approximately 2.7 million displaced persons in Turkey and they had to evacuate the region.
International Blue Crescent Relief and Development Foundation (IBC) continues emergency response across the earthquake zones in cooperation with AFAD, Turkish Red Crescent, Local Municipalities, Governorships, and Councils, and the relevant and necessary stakeholders.
For the earthquake response, IBC is operational and present at multiple sites located in seven provinces in Türkiye (Gaziantep, Hatay, Izmir, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Sanliurfa) and in Aleppo Governorate in Northwest Syria (5 camps in Al-Bab, multiple camps and villages in A’zaz including IBC’s pre-earthquakes established office).
With an aim to use resources efficiently, IBC has agreed on protocols with all local governorates and coordinates all activities with AFAD, TRC, Directorate of Migration Management, and all other relevant and necessary stakeholders.
Additionally, in parallel with the permission that IBC and all stakeholders must obtain to conduct psychosocial support (PSS) and related activities in the earthquake response, IBC’s mobile PSS team has been approved by the Ministry of Family and Social Services (MoSS) for all operational areas. Lastly, as assessments are ongoing, IBC is responsive to the needs in the whole earthquake region, including the cities to which survivors have been evacuated.
IBC will provide support to earthquake victims in the region with the community center and container cities it has established in Islahiye and Nurdağı. It is aimed to meet all the basic and urgent needs of earthquake victims in the living area, which will also include mobile toilets and bathrooms. In addition to the needs analyses carried out regularly in the region, activities in the children's caravan continue regularly.
In addition, on topics such as preventing psychological dissonance and problems that may arise after the disaster, re- establishing/developing relations at the family and community level, realizing/strengthening their own capacities in the process of returning those affected by the earthquake to their 'normal' lives; psychosocial support activities were continued by our teams, all of whom received training approved by the Ministry of Family and Social Services.
Additionally, the mobile kitchen, established in cooperation with Action Medeor, has been delivered to a camp in Islahiye and has started its preparations to provide hot meals to 2,000 people in the camp, which has 269 prefabricated living spaces, in the coming weeks.
For earthquake victims in the region with the support of Action Medeor mobile health service is provided every day of the week. (including Islahiye and Nurdagi regions) Although these services focus on health, they are prioritized as "life-saving" because they prevent secondary and tertiary risks.
Preparations have been completed for the construction of Kırıkhan Community Center in Hatay, where people in need can access many services such as food support / psycho-social support / and protection measures.
The installation of activity/community tents in the area has begun. Kırıkhan container camp is built on an area of 34 decares to expand from 400 houses to several hundred houses more over 60 decares. The area will house an estimated 3000 people and provide access to electricity, water and sanitation.
IBC aims to establish a family health center in the region by complying with the demands of the district health directorate and AFAD guidelines.
Since the first day of the earthquake in Hatay, regular distributions have been made to meet basic needs such as food and hygiene.
In Türkiye, 330 thousand people from 11 provinces under the state of emergency were evacuated to other provinces.
In this context, thousands of earthquake survivors reached İzmir in the past weeks and a cooperation protocol was signed for earthquake victims in accordance with the demands of local administrations and the Directorate of Migration Management.
Currently, IBC provides hot meals to 700 people affected by the earthquake at the Air Force Special Education Center in Özdere, İzmir. 300 individuals are provided with hot meals at the TMÖ camp in Gümüldür, Izmir. As children are returning to school, we are providing packed lunches with sandwiches, fruit, milk and cookies to 80 young students.
IBC also carries out social cohesion and child-friendly space activities at the IBC Kilis Community Center, which is an established and important center for the region since 2011.
In addition, IBC Kilis Community Center serves as the main center for IBC coordination, including cross- border projects.
More than 500,000 meals have been served in the region so far. This week; IDRF, one of our donor institutions, also visited our center in Kilis, and meetings were held for the coordination of the upcoming projects slated to begin in the coming days.
IBC Child-friendly area and PSS service started in Malatya Dogansehir with the support of GIZ.
This week, with the support of IDRF, 300 hygiene packages and food packages were distributed. For the soup kitchens affiliated to the Elbistan District Governorate, 1 cook and 2 assistant cooks were employed and 1500 meals were distributed daily.
In addition, child-wellness teams continue their activities in the region for children affected by the earthquake.
IBC started to meet one of the most urgent needs in the field by providing psycho-social support services in Şanlıurfa.
With the permission of the Ministry of Family and Social Services, our field team, consisting of clinical psychologists, caseworkers, a social compliance officer, a logistics officer, and a translator from our GIZ MHPSS project, performs needs assessments in the aid projects carried out under the coordination of the Metropolitan Municipality in Şanlıurfa and in tent cities. It also plays games with children and provides psychological first-aid support to adults.
Hot soup distribution will continue in Elbistan over the coming days.
IBC supports the Container Camp which is established jointly by AFAD, Governorate, Elbistan District Governorate, and Elbistan Municipality. Our first containers have been placed in the Elbistan Container Camp where we will contribute 100 containers in total.
Disabled people, one of the most affected, are given priority in shelter support. Accordingly, as of yesterday, 4 families with disabilities were settled in containers provided by IBC. We will continue to work for those in need...
In the past weeks, we distributed hot meals to 500 people as part of the GIZ Earthquake Emergency Support with the Diyarbakır-based Smile to Life Association, to which we provided mentoring support within the scope of the GIZ CLIP project. We will continue to support the region with hot meals for the next 2 months.
With the support of WHH, preparations were made for the distribution of 500 tents to those in need. Planning for the distribution of 500 hygiene and 500 food packages has been completed. In this process, the goal was to identify those in need and deliver requested goods in a timely manner, with case management support.
IBC Syria team continued to visit tent camps in the region this week as part of the mobile clinic project (Al Hadath Camp, Sosnbat Camp, Tadiff Village and Tadif Camp). A total of 822 people were reached this week in the camps visited by community health teams.
In addition, IBC’s work continues at the Dabiq health center. Dabiq also provided services for 1134 patients this week.
Medicines and medical consumables were shipped from Turkey to the region where needs increased after the earthquake, and they were delivered to the Azez health depot.
In addition, the Soran Assembly was visited and meetings were held on the projected stages of the water reservoir to be put into operation in the region.
With Action Medeor in Türkiye, the following activities and distributions were carried out mainly in Hatay/Kırıkhan and Gaziantep/Nurdagi and in Northwest Syria.
General Summary of IBC’s Earthquake Response Ongoing Actions and Impact
4989 Blankets (3761 in Türkiye / 1228 in NWS)
1,250 Hot Meals in Kilis / 678 food packages in Northwest Syria (for 1,250 people) 5,964 Hand Warmers -Chauffrettes -(5428 in Türkiye / 536 in NWS)
2087 Sleeping bags for Adults and Children, weather-proof (1472 in Türkiye / 615 in NWS) 5295 Disposable hygiene cleaning fiber for self-care (4481 in Türkiye / 814 in NWS)
Winter clothes (coats, boots, socks) for 500 children (360 in Türkiye / 140 in NWS) 500 Tent tarpaulins (400 in Türkiye / 100 in NWS)
2339 packages child sanitary pad/diaper (1520 in Türkiye / 819 in NWS) 2250 packs of child sanitary napkins/wipes (1635 in Türkiye / 615 NWS) 2265 units of baby foods (1550 in Türkiye / 715 in North Syria)
2357 packages of hygiene kits consisting of detergent, personal wet care towels, disinfectant & hygiene materials (1433 in Türkiye / 924 in North Syria)
400 tent type stoves with pipes and other parts (320 in Türkiye / 80 in North Syria)
With mobile health services, 823 people were reached in Islahiye and Nurdagi/Gaziantep.
With support from multiple generous donors and coordination with local officials, IBC completed:
Hot meals and daily soup distribution in Kilis- in the region, where 24,000 meals are distributed every day: 500,000 meals have been distributed so far
In addition, 20,000 hot meals have been served to earthquake evacuees in Özdere/Izmir 200 tent materials and dozens of hygiene packages distributed in Antakya/Hatay
In the last week, distribution of 82 stoves, 80 sleeping bags, 32 blankets to three villages of Kirikhan/Hatay: Alaybeyli (20 stoves), Torum (50 stoves), Cataltepe (12 stoves)
4,000 blankets to Gaziantep
Support to Sanliurfa Municipality Halk Ekmek with flour and bread distribution to over 50,000 people Support to Sanliurfa Municipality Exhibition Center housing 9,000 people, including baby food and diapers, sandwiches and soup ingredients and volunteers for food preparation, blankets
PSS and Social Cohesion activities support to 200 children every day in coordination with the Sanliurfa Municipality Ahmet Yesevi Youth Center educational and mental health activities
2 Child Caravans established (1 in Islahiye-Nurdagi/Gaziantep and 1 in Dogansehir/Malatya) Child-friendly spaces established in Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Sanliurfa
108 mobile toilets and 24 showers to the region, including 12 portable toilets in Nurdagi/ Gaziantep this past week
Nearly 100 tents, 10,000 blankets, winter clothes, bedding, cleaning materials and hygiene parcels distributed in NWS
A total of 6500 beneficiaries were supported in the works carried out in Malatya / Doganşehir, Kahramanmaras / Elbistan, Kilis, Islahiye and Nurdagi.
