By Kai Hopkins, Head of Humanitarian Programmes
Since the devastating Turkey-Syria Earthquakes on February 6th which displaced over 3 million people and killed 52,000, we have been responding to needs through our local partner the International Blue Crescent (IBC). Read reflections from our Head of Humanitarian Programmes.
Update: One Year After the Earthquakes
Today marks the one-year anniversary since the devastating earthquakes hit southern Turkey and northwest Syria. As a result of the overwhelming generosity of World Jewish Relief’s supporters, we have been working hard over this last year to support those affected. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, we provided almost 2,700 individuals with food and winter clothing to help them survive the freezing winter nights without shelter.
Three months after the earthquake, we shared an update on our activities and how we have been working alongside our long-term partner – the International Blue Crescent (IBC). You can find that at the bottom of this blog.
Since then, we have continued to support with prefabricated homes. Each of the 42 container homes we have provided is equipped with electricity and running water, and provides safe shelter and dignity to those affected by the earthquakes. Alongside the shelters, we have been providing food, medical care, psychological support, and activities for children, reaching over 2,500 people.
The impact of these shelters on the local community is evident from the stories we hear on the ground.
Over recent months, we have been focusing on longer-term recovery. This has included assisting in the rebuilding of permanent homes and helping individuals learn new skills and linking them to new employment opportunities so they can earn an income and increase their independence, dignity, and agency. This work is innovative and has the potential to help people on the long road to recovery.
As always, we appreciate the ongoing support from donors, and are proud of how we and our partner are making a real difference in people’s lives – not just now, but for the future too.
Update: 3 Months After the Earthquakes
Shielding my eyes from the glare of the powerful midday sun, I look across the valley, assessing what has changed since I last stood here.
It has been exactly three months. And for those around me, it has been three long and exhausting months. Döne, standing beside me, summarises them as the worst period of her long and eventful life. For her and her husband, everything they had known ended when the powerful earthquake hit in late February. Three months on, three months in which so much has happened, very little for Döne and others in southern Turkey has actually changed.
It’s not that nothing is different. A lot of the debris that had laid where it fell has been neatly piled, kicking up dust as the wind whips around, and a few more of the buildings that had still been standing have now been pulled down. But for each one gone, five remain – standing at awkward angles, zigzagged by jagged scars that cannot heal. Like the people camping out in their shadows in make-shift tent villages, they wait patiently.
When I was here in March these imposing reminders of the earthquake’s damage displayed the scattered remains of a life disturbed. Now they are virtually empty, devoid of any signs that they were ever homes. They have been reduced to mere bricks and mortar and will soon be reduced to rubble.
In much the same way as the physical and tangible, the sentiments on the ground have changed very little. Yes, the feelings of disbelief and anger that was so palpable in March has slowly given way to a quiet acceptance, but people still feel scared, confused and quite simply lost. The recent election brought with it hopes and promises but as a new era in Turkey’s political landscape begins, the challenges ahead remain sadly familiar. It is however, a challenge that people are braced for, and while the fear and uncertainty pervades every discussion, a conviction and determination to rebuild their lives cuts through. Döne tells me she has been fighting cancer for the best part of a decade, while she doesn’t know how exactly, she knows she will come through this too.
As I scan the horizon, however, there is one obvious difference from three months ago. Last time I was here I was standing in the middle of an empty field. Now, I am standing overlooking a new camp – complete with 400 sturdy prefabricated shelters – each with running water and electricity – a community centre, a playground, a school, and a fully functioning kitchen.
As soon as it became clear that the road to recovery would take years, and thanks to the generous support of World Jewish Relief’s donors, we began work on this camp with our long-term partners, the International Blue Crescent and the Joint Distribution Committee. It sits in the heart of Hatay province, one of the worst affected by the earthquake, and it is here that Döne and her husband will now be living.
This camp does not make all the challenges disappear. It cannot do that. Nothing could. But it does give people like Döne the safety from which they can begin to rebuild their lives. Only now are people able to think about the future, and I hope that doing so in this camp will make that future feel more immediate and attainable. As Döne says to me:
“We are an old couple, and we just want to be happy.”
