Six-Month Anniversary of the Türkiye Earthquakes and the UN Response

Prepared by UNCG Türkiye

August 6th is the six-month anniversary of the February 6 earthquakes in southern Türkiye that caused over 50.000 deaths in 11 provinces.

The UN response over the last six months to support government relief and recovery efforts was diverse and significant progress has been made.

Following the humanitarian phase, UN Türkiye and UN agencies in Türkiye are now supporting the Turkish government’s recovery efforts to build back better and leave no one behind.

In Brussels, on 20 March, international donors pledged US$6.5 billion in support for the earthquake response in Türkiye. 

The conference featured a presentation of the findings of the Türkiye Earthquakes Recovery and Reconstruction Assessment (TERRA), including an analysis of the disaster’s financial impact conducted by the Turkish Government with support from UNDP, the UN, the EU and the World Bank. This analysis estimated the total damages and losses caused by the earthquakes at US$103.6 billion. 

As of 4 August, UN agencies reached over 6 million people across the earthquake region in support of recovery efforts and ongoing humanitarian needs. Those efforts included food assistance, hygiene kits, container houses, school supplies, empowerment of women, psycho-social support, reproductive health supplies, Cash for Work program with ISKUR, providing cash and in-kind grants to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, assistance in the form of animal feed, fertilizer, agricultural equipment, seeds, and seedlings. 

UN Türkiye agencies are also supporting registration and data updates for those in need of international protection, cash support to 123,000 most vulnerable households, ensuring the continuity of health services for displaced populations, providing containers to major museums for temporary protection of at-risk collections, Earthquake Response and Recovery Plan (ERRP), aiming to provide support to 700,000 rural residents in 11 provinces affected by the earthquake and rebuilding more than 1200 schools, benefiting over 300,000 children.

To increase the effectiveness of UN support to the Turkish government’s earthquake response, the UN Country Team in Türkiye, in consultation with the Turkish government and its partners, prepared a “Recovery Framework”. It outlines a collectively discussed approach to ensure international actors and national partners continue to provide essential assistance to people most affected, through at least the end of 2023, and accelerate their recovery programmes to build back better.

“The UN and its agencies have been on the ground since day one to support the earthquake response by the Turkish Government. Today, we continue our strong commitment to assist recovery efforts” says UN Resident Coordinator Alvaro Rodriguez.

Rodriguez emphasizes that over 9 million people, including 4 million children, are still in need of support.

“I will emphasize a fact again. Türkiye is also home to the largest number of refugees in the world and has shown enormous generosity to its Syrian neighbors for years.  Now is the time for the world to continue to support the people of Türkiye – just as they have stood in solidarity with others seeking assistance”, Rodriguez adds.

“We need the international community to fully provide the funds pledged to support the earthquake response. This is essential to build back better and to leave no one behind”, Rodriguez says.

Below is a compilation of the work of the UN Agencies in support of the Turkish government’s recovery efforts:

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 

In response to the earthquake, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has partnered with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MoAF) to initiate the Earthquake Response and Recovery Plan (ERRP), valued at USD 112 million. The plan aims to provide support to 700,000 rural residents in 11 provinces affected by the earthquake.

The primary objective of the ERRP is to restore and improve agrifood systems and rural livelihoods to maintain food production and restore rural livelihoods. The plan's three outcomes focus on restoring agrifood systems, revitalizing the agriculture labor market, and empowering rural communities. The ERRP adopts various approaches, including women's empowerment, disaster risk reduction, Build Back Better, private sector engagement, and climate-smart and nature-based solutions.

As the co-lead of the Food Security and Livelihood sector, FAO worked closely with partners to assess the agriculture sector's needs and advocate for additional support. FAO conducted various studies, including the Türkiye Earthquake Recovery and Reconstruction Assessment (TERRA) in partnership with the Presidency of Strategy and Budget, along with initial and follow-up assessments on the impact of the earthquakes on the agriculture sector with the MoAF.

Thanks to funding from Norway and Sweden's Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities and the Technical Cooperation Project for Emergency, FAO provided immediate support to those affected. A total of 1,765 farmers received assistance in the form of animal feed, fertilizer, agricultural equipment, seeds, and seedlings. Furthermore, FAO aims to help 278 more farmers by providing them with milking machines, milking and cooling tanks, and other necessary items. Together with PDoAF and PTT, FAO is also providing $75 cash transfers each to 6,000 rural members and 1,720 aquaculture farmers.

FAO continues to collaborate with MoAF, the Provincial Directorates of Agriculture and Forestry (PDoAF), and district directorates to assess changing requirements through on-site inspections, gathering data, analyzing sub-sectors, advocating for the needs of rural women and assessing value chains.

As the plan moves toward sustainable recovery, FAO is focusing its fundraising efforts on proactively maintaining, restoring, and enhancing agri-food systems and rural livelihoods through innovative approaches, technology, and climate-smart agriculture.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) Türkiye

The ILO recognises the devastating impact of the earthquakes that hit mainly Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman, Hatay, Malatya, Gaziantep, Diyarbakır, Şanlıurfa, Osmaniye, Kilis, Adana, and Elazığ, Türkiye on the February 6, 2023.

The ILO Office for Türkiye mapped short, mid, and long-term actions to address the needs of the earthquake-stricken area based on the efforts. For the prominent planned actions, ILO initiated adopting the Employment Intensive Investment Programmes (EIIPs) which is a customized temporary employment programme developed and implemented by the ILO in post-disaster and crisis situations in more than forty countries across the world. EIIPs aim to provide income generation, employment creation and reconstruction of public infrastructure and community assets under decent work conditions with a green transition perspective. Joint filed missions by the ILO EIIP engineers, national officers and the MoLSS representatives were held to the affected region in June to identify potential fields of operation for EIIPs.  Negotiations are ongoing with certain development partners to ensure funding of the programme and launch it in selected locations.

The Office delivered first hand aid to the region. In line with the demands of the AFAD (Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency) at the provincial level, the ILO also distributed emergency needs including 2,500 clothing sets, 3,600 hygiene boxes, 2,000 hot meals and food parcels for children and adults. Two Social Support Centres were established in Hatay and Adıyaman to provide psychosocial support to the victims.

8,700 emergency relief items (weatherized tents, sleeping bags, pillows and tents) and 33 containers – purchased, produced and installed locally - for the Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR). These container service units are supposed to help to ensure the service continuity of ISKUR in 3 critical areas where ISKUR offices had been destroyed (Adıyaman; Hatay and Kahramanmaraş) and increase the number of people benefitting from the work for social good introduced by ISKUR for earthquake survivors.

In addition, children, families, businesses and workers are receiving on-going psycho-social support since March, 2023, provided by the ILO’s support in the region via a small enterprise (female owned – formerly Syrian refugee and now Turkish citizen) called “Peace Therapist”. In three months, almost 1000 unique individuals (including over 50% refugees) were consulted in Arabic; Kurdish; Turkish or English for mental health services and 2,000 more individuals will benefit from these services until the end of 2023. All people benefitting from this support are individuals suffering from trauma or other symptoms resulting from the twin earthquakes.

In July, approximately 400.000 USD were allocated for a Cash for Work program with ISKUR in the three most affected earthquake-hit provinces Adıyaman, Hatay and Kahramanmaraş. In addition, 200.000 USD will be allocated for jobs supported via the Work Based Learning (ISMEP) program in Kahramanmaraş. This will bring the total Earthquake Emergency Funding total to nearly $2 million by the end of 2023.

The Office also provided 300 sanitation units (Portable wc/shower units) in earthquake region.

The Office’s newly launched “Safe Space Project,” implemented in cooperation with the Federation of Women Associations of Türkiye (TKDF), aims at creating a safe space in earthquake-hit Hatay Province for women and children where the women’s capacities for accessing to recovery processes including livelihood opportunities remains among another initiative taking into account the gender-based violence (GBV). 

Resources needed for future work:

The ILO Office for Türkiye looks forward to potential collaboration and synergies among development partners to extend the reach and impact of the EIIP in the recovery process, support capacity development efforts in the regional labour market institutions and labour force and generating data for evidence-based policy and programme development for recovery.

International Organization for Migration (IOM) Türkiye

Since the onset of the earthquake, IOM has been involved in response efforts and is currently supporting long-term recovery of affected communities, as informed by needs identified in the Türkiye Earthquakes Recovery and Reconstruction Assessment.

As part of its comprehensive recovery and reconstruction strategy, IOM is supporting early recovery and livelihoodsby providing cash and in-kind grants to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. IOM provided five containers to local employment agencies to use as temporary offices and supported the establishment. IOM also supported the re-establishment of a community farming program, a silk-producing cooperative, established an aquaponic and hydroponic facility employing women, among others. IOM is leveraging partnerships with provincial chambers of commerce and industry to enhance employment opportunities and bridge market gaps. An ongoing assessment is being conducted to identify businesses and cooperatives requiring assistance.

IOM has dispatched over 1.1 million shelter and non-food items, including tents, reinforced housing units, mattresses and blankets, and supported over 15,900 families with food kits. Through its multipurpose cash assistance programme, IOM is providing unrestricted cash transfers to migrant and host community households, to help them meet their basic needs as defined by the Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB).

IOM is co-leading the Temporary Settlement Support (TSS) Sector within the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG). To date, IOM and its TSS partners have visited over 600 sites for site profiling and continue to facilitate referrals for support.

IOM is further active in promoting the health and well-being of affected individuals, providing consultations and raising awareness to 895 individuals through a call centre and 1,200 through mobile medical teams. IOM donated 78 tents to the Ministry of Health to be used as accommodation for healthcare workers. To improve water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, IOM has delivered more than 24,900 hygiene kits and installed 240 mobile latrines.

Recognizing the protection needs of individuals displaced by the earthquakes, IOM continues to offer mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) and translation services. Overall, assistance is informed by IOM’s data collection and analysis activities, through its Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM).

As of July 2022, IOM’s  110 million USD appeal is only 52 per cent financed. IOM continues to seek funding to cover this gap and expand its immediate response to basic needs in temporary settlements. IOM collaborates closely with national authorities, especially in leading the Temporary Settlement Support (TSS) Sector, and is committed to providing updated data regarding the evolving situation in settlements.

Furthermore, IOM aims to expand its longer-term programming to support recovery efforts, in particular through effective labour management aimed at re-boosting the economy in key sectors. This includes upskilling and labour skill matching for Turkish and Syrians under temporary protection.

UNDP

Through its continuing work to support the people of the earthquake-affected region, UNDP seeks to provide paths to recovery for all, expand the impact of its initiatives further, touch more people’s lives, and leave no one behind.

Livelihoods and incomes, employment, vocational and skills training, restoring care services for survivors and vulnerable groups, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) support to container cities, waste management support to municipalities, and cultural heritage restoration and preservation.

Resources needed for future work: US$508 million for recovery and reconstruction support (US$40 million of US$548 million target mobilized to date)

WASH: UNDP partnered with the Turkish NGO Needs Map and supplied environmentally friendly waste and wastewater infrastructure and drinking-water equipment in the NGO’s container settlement at Hatay Expo, housing 1,500 displaced persons. 80 washers, 80 dryers, and 283 air conditioners were delivered to enhance life standards of earthquake survivors in the temporary settlement. Similar installation is under way in the Needs Map container city in Kahramanmaraş.

250 mobile toilet/shower units, including 50 units accessible for persons with disabilities, were provided to Hatay metropolitan municipality.

Streetsweepers, garbage trucks, galvanized waste bins and other waste management equipment provided to most-affected municipalities; waste transfer station and heavy vehicles repaired in Hatay.

Critical care services for survivors and vulnerable persons: In line with the Leave No One Behind principle, psychosocial support provided through Izmir Branch of Turkish Psychologists Association to 88 social workers online and 265 professionals through in-person sessions in Adana and Diyarbakir.

Three mobile care vehicles and three temporary care centers equipped for provision of social services to women, the elderly, and persons with disabilities in the earthquake region.

Two transport/healthcare vehicles and two care centers with physical rehabilitation centers equipped and staffed in Kahramanmaraş and Adıyaman provinces.

Livelihoods, skills-training, and income generation: Region-wide small-business “recovery grant” scheme worth US$6 million in total launched for all 11 provinces affected by the earthquakes, with a pilot program already completed in Kahramanmaras on 4 August with US$550,000 in total awarded to 257 women-headed businesses

Vocational training initiative worth US$2.5 million launched for labor-absorptive sectors in the textile industry, in partnership with leading textile exporters associations.

Vocational training in high-demand vocations already provided for 800 earthquake survivors, including 200 displaced persons at the Ankara and Konya model factories and 600 persons remaining in the region. Support also provided to women’s carpet-weaving cooperative in Besni.

17 dormitory-style containers provided to İŞKUR as temporary accommodation for field staff to resume their employment-related work.

Cultural heritage: Containers provided to major museums for temporary protection of at-risk collections.

Cameras and drones supplied to assist in inventory of damaged cultural heritage assets.

International crowd-funding campaign emphasizing cultural diversity will soon launch.

United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA 

UNFPA has been supporting women, girls and groups with special needs, the groups most affected by the earthquake, with protection and health services since day one. UNFPA has been coordinating with partners to get reproductive health and protection services up and running again, increasing mobile teams and outreach to take maternal health and protection services to women and girls in need, wherever they are. 

UNFPA provides health and protection support to the survivors (especially women, girls, young people and groups with specialized needs such as persons with disabilities) all over the region through 8 UNFPA-supported static service units, 2 tent service units and 11 mobile outreach teams. UNFPA field units provide SRH and GBV information, counseling and services including maternal and newborn health, family planning, dignity and maternity supplies, GBV case management, referrals and psychosocial support.

• 32,000 individuals reached with SRH services and counseling 
• 36,000 individuals reached with GBV services and counseling 
• 26,000 individuals reached with dignity kits and maternity kits 
• 53,000 reproductive health commodities (including oral contraceptives, injectables, IUDs, and condoms) delivered to affected communities.

To support the Ministry of Health in provision of SRH services, UNFPA also provided 31 metric tons of reproductive health supplies Inter-Agency Emergency Reproductive Health Kits to provincial health directorates in 10 affected areas in addition to 10 tents provided to MoH to coordinate SRH activities and 2 containers provided for use as Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centers by MoFSS.

Resources needed for future work: UNFPA published its recovery and resilience offer (June 2023-December 2025) to address the needs of women, girls and groups with specialised needs. In total, $42 million is needed to deliver this offer. UNFPA has raised $8.6 million USD, out of the $19.7 million USD requested, under its Flash Appeal covering the February - May 2023 period. UNFPA continues to run global and national donation campaigns targeting individuals and private sector donors to support women and girls affected by the earthquake in Türkiye and the region. 

UNFPA is requesting donors to provide additional funding support to sustain and expand the earthquake efforts to address humanitarian needs and promote recovery and resilience. The focus is on delivering and coordinating assistance for SRH services, and preventing and protecting against GBV. UNFPA stresses the importance of ensuring effectiveness and long-term viability of its earthquake response, with a particular emphasis on upholding the rights, safety, and dignity of women, girls, and other vulnerable populations, including refugees, migrants, youth, older individuals, and people with disabilities.

UNHCR, UN Refugee Agency

UNHCR has been co-leading the Protection Sector within the earthquake coordination structure together with a national NGO partner, Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM). Additionally, UNHCR and ASAM are facilitating provincial protection coordination meetings in South-east Türkiye, covering the four hubs in Hatay, Kahramanmaharaş, Adıyaman and Malatya. This arrangement has been in place since the IASC scale-up and three-month duration of the UN Flash Appeal, which ended on 17 May, during the transition phase that will end on 17 August, and is expected to continue until the end of the year given the scale of humanitarian needs in earthquake-affected provinces.

UNHCR is also co-leading the Multi-Purpose Cash and Social Protection Sector and chairing the Cash-Based Interventions Technical Working Group with the Turkish Red Crescent. Furthermore, UNHCR is chairing the Accountability to Affected Populations Task Team.

UNHCR supports the capacity of national and local authorities to respond to the needs of communities impacted by the earthquakes, including through the delivery of core relief items (CRIs). To date, UNHCR has delivered nearly 3 million CRIs, including items such as blankets, mattresses, kitchen sets, food packs and warm clothing, to counterparts, including the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), the Presidency of Migration Management (PMM), and the Ministry of Family and Social Services (MoFSS) as well as selected municipalities for their distribution to earthquake-affected communities.

UNHCR supports 11 provincial branches of the PMM in earthquake-affected areas with approximately 247 personnel in order to support registration and data update of those in need of international protection, identifying persons with specific needs, and referrals to the services.

UNHCR partners with PMM to support the renovation of damaged PDMM buildings in EQ-affected provinces and will provide temporary shelter options (3,000 Containers) to PMM TACs and renovate an additional 1,340 containers in Harran to make the TAC operational.

UNHCR has been working with the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (UTBA) to provide refugees with legal assistance through five Legal Clinics in Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis, Malatya, and Sanliurfa, as well as supporting Bar Associations in provision of legal aid through in the region. 

UNHCR partners with the Turkish Red Crescent, ASAM, and Concern Worldwide to provide one-time emergency cash assistance (SNF) to refugees with specific needs affected by the earthquake.

In partnership with Danish Refugee Council and Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR), UNHCR will support livelihood activities in the southeast through cash-for-work and applied training programmes that will run until the end of the year, targeting Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman, Malatya, Osmaniye, Diyarbakır, Kilis, and Şanlıurfa provinces focusing on individuals affected by earthquakes. 

Resources needed for future work

In alignment with the Flash Appeal launched by the United Nations, UNHCR has issued a Supplementary Appeal for $150 million to help scale up support following the deadly earthquakes. Complementing UNHCR's existing refugee response appeal, UNHCR's requirements for the earthquake emergency response in Türkiye, targeting 1.5 million people, is 37% funded as of 20 July 2023.

UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund

Since the devastating February earthquakes that struck south-east Türkiye, UNICEF has been actively providing life-saving support to affected children and families on the ground. The focus has been on supporting formal and informal settlements for displaced individuals to access clean water, vaccines, psychosocial support and critical hygiene supplies.

To address the disruption of education caused by the earthquake, UNICEF has implemented various programs and initiatives. These efforts promote early learning, provide teaching and learning materials, and enhance the capacity of education personnel to offer psychosocial support to children and adolescents.

Key highlights of UNICEF recovery interventions include:

• Approximately 587,000 people have received hygiene supplies, including family and baby hygiene kits in formal and informal settlements.
• Nearly 986,000 children are accessing immunization services and vaccines.
• Over 396,000 children are accessing formal or non-formal education.
• Over 1.1 million children have been provided with learning materials.
• Over 500,000 children and caregivers have received psychosocial support.
• 58 child, adolescent and family support hubs have been set up.
• Around 1.4 million people now have access to safe water.
• Nearly 862,000 people have access to improved sanitation facilities and services.
• Over 34,000 people have been provided with non-food items.
• Over 70,000 families with children reached with cash assistance.
• Financial support has been directed towards rebuilding more than 1200 schools, benefiting over 300,000 children.

Resources required: Despite this support, the need for humanitarian assistance remains critical. Over 9 million people, including 4 million children, are still in need of support. UNICEF is urgently appealing for an additional $64.8 million to reach 5.4 million people, including 4 million children. Sustained funding will play a crucial role in facilitating the rebuilding process, ensuring that vulnerable children, adolescents, and families affected by the earthquake can access water and sanitation, health and nutrition, child protection, education, and other essential humanitarian services.

UN Volunteers Türkiye

Since the onset of the earthquake in Türkiye, UN Volunteers have played a crucial and active role in supporting the UN's earthquake response and recovery efforts. To address the urgent needs on the ground, UN agencies engaged both online and onsite UN Volunteers.

Online volunteers have been providing remote assistance by offering counseling services to affected communities, translating vital documents into local languages, and monitoring media sources to combat misinformation. To date, 17 online volunteers have generously contributed their time and expertise to assist the UN in Türkiye EQ response efforts.

Concurrently, UN agencies have expanded their operations on the ground by engaging national and international UN Volunteers onsite. These dedicated volunteers have proven invaluable in a wide range of areas, including reporting critical information, establishing vital connections with local partners in the earthquake-affected regions, managing communications, offering counseling services, supporting procurement of essential supplies, handling administrative tasks, and other crucial tasks. Since February, a total of 67 UN Volunteers have been actively supporting the UN in Türkiye’s EQ Response and Recovery efforts, with 18 newly deployed volunteers joining these efforts - in the earthquake-affected region, operating from four main hubs.

As a UN common service provider, UNV continues to play a key role in supporting the UN teams and engaging UN Volunteers to assist with their activities and aid the affected communities in the Earthquake Zones. UN Agencies are actively looking for new volunteers to join their field operations. To join UN as a volunteer*, all new volunteer announcements can be found on https://app.unv.org address along with their specifications and application links.

(*As per UN policies, all onsite UN Volunteers receive living allowance and are insured during their assignments).

UN Women

UN Women’s response to the devastating earthquakes in Türkiye on February 6th is based on the identified needs and priorities of women and girls and is being implemented in close coordination with the Government of Türkiye at central and local level, civil society, private sector, and other UN agencies.

The response aims to address both immediate needs, risks, and challenges faced by women as well medium and longer-term needs for the restoration of their livelihoods. It addresses women’s rights to self-reliance, determination, protection, and agency, to mitigate the risk of widening gender gap.

At the core of UN Women’s efforts lies the empowerment of women, fostering their roles as leaders and catalysts for change rather than beneficiaries of assistance. UN Women advocates for their full participation in the humanitarian and recovery response, which needs to be based on their own identified priorities and solutions.

Since the early days of the crisis in Türkiye, UN Women has been providing expertise and technical advice in the UN inter-agency coordination mechanism in order to ensure that:

• UN system-wide coordination and cooperation capacities for gender in humanitarian action at country level are strengthened,
• the humanitarian response is based on gender-focused needs assessments and gender analysis across the sectors,
• the inclusion of women and women’s organizations in the planning and implementation of crisis response is facilitated,
• the capacities of sectors and humanitarian actors on the importance of gender in humanitarian action and the means to integrate it throughout their humanitarian programme cycles are strengthened.

Beyond the immediate assistance, UN Women is preparing programs to support the restoration of women’s livelihoods, such as support to women’s businesses and cooperatives.

As a member of the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) in Türkiye, UN Women established the Women Empowerment in Humanitarian Action Working Group (WEHA) jointly with the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office. WEHA is an inter-sectoral coordination mechanism that offered technical and advisory support to the HCT and the sectors to ensure the humanitarian response is tailored to address the specific needs of women and girls and strengthen the dimensions of women’s empowerment across the sectorial earthquake response, with specific focus on leave no one behind.

In order to continue providing sufficient technical expertise with the right staff, effective coordination, and direct service delivery during the recovery and development phases, UN Women needs approximately 3.5 million USD financial resources to support its work.

World Food Programme (WFP)

WFP delivered the first food assistance within 48 hours to the vulnerable people of the region after the earthquakes on February 6. The main humanitarian effort of the emergency response, which was focused on food assistance, continued for three months in cooperation with 60 municipalities in the 11 provinces most affected by the earthquake. In total, around 1.6 million earthquake-affected people received WFP food assistance in the form of cooked meals, food packages, and/or ready-to-eat rations.

In addition to food assistance, WFP provided a wide range of logistical support, including the establishment of Mobile Storage Units (MSUs), the setup of mobile kitchens, and the distribution of containers to municipalities. Furthermore, WFP offered infrastructure services to maintain emergency communications, such as charging stations, in the region during the three-month emergency response.

The multi-purpose cash program, launched in cooperation with Turkish Red Crescent and IFRC during the emergency response period, is still ongoing, with plans to provide cash support to 123,000 most vulnerable households, both Turkish and Syrian, by the end of the program.

Similarly, the early recovery temporary employment program, which was launched during the emergency response period and carried out in partnership with ASAM as part of early recovery for people living in the earthquake zone, is still ongoing. This program provides temporary employment to affected people for a period of 3 months, and as of the end of June, 600 people were placed in employment.

WFP provided emergency response with contributions from Canada, European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), German Humanitarian Aid, Korea, Kuwait, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (UN CERF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Resources needed for future work:

WFP's Emergency Response requirements are fully covered. However, in case of receiving more resources the early recovery temporary employment program will be scaled u

World Health Organization

WHO is coordinating the health and nutrition sector response in Türkiye.

Main areas of work:

• Supporting the Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) initiative: WHO supported and coordinated the EMT initiative in Türkiye, which included 42 approved international EMTs from more than 20 countries. This was the largest deployment of EMTs to a WHO/Europe disaster zone in WHO’s 75-year history.
• Providing psychological first aid training: WHO provided training in psychological first aid for children to 1476 staff from the MoFSS.
• Delivering supplies: WHO delivered over US$ 1.1 million of supplies to the affected areas. This includes supplies for scabies and lice treatment, laboratory reagents for diagnosing infectious diseases, modules of trauma and emergency surgery kit (TESK), interagency emergency health kit (IEHK) and cholera and pneumonia kits. WHO is also procuring 30,700 doses of Hepatitis A vaccine for children. The vaccine is expected to arrive in the country after mid-August. In addition, a training on EPI and cold chain was held in Ankara between June 12-15, 2023. The training was attended by 150 participants, including 120 people responsible for immunization and cold chain in the provincial health directorates from earthquake-affected areas. The purpose of the training was to refresh the information regarding the EPI program of the MoH.
• Ensuring the continuity of health services for displaced populations: WHO is working to ensure that displaced populations have access to essential health services. This includes providing mobile health clinics, supporting the establishment of temporary health facilities, and working with the MoH to ensure that displaced people are registered with the national health system.
• Strengthening and extending mental health services: WHO is working to strengthen and extend mental health services in the affected areas. WHO reached a total of 1325 MoH and MoFSS staff who attended online “Ask the Expert” sessions on mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). Additional face-to-face support for social care workers was provided in Kahramanmaraş and Hatay.
• Reinforcing early warning and surveillance systems: To assess the infectious disease laboratory and surveillance systems in the earthquake-affected area, WHO conducted a two-week field trip to map diagnostic capacities for infectious diseases and to identify needs and gaps in 10 earthquake affected provinces. The field trip was instrumental in collecting valuable data on the laboratory and surveillance systems in the area and findings and recommendations will guide future efforts to strengthen these systems and ensure their optimal functionality.
• Listening to the affected population: Within the first week of the response, the RCCE-IM team developed public health advice in the aftermath of the earthquake and supported the MoH of Türkiye to develop public health advice on 20 health topics. WHO continues to support risk communication and community engagement efforts. This includes providing public health advice, building further capacity, and working with community leaders. The team has also initiated community engagement activities with a special focus on breastfeeding.

Resources needed for future work:

Expanding the community engagement activities to Adıyaman and Kahramanmaraş provinces. Estimated budget: $2,000,000