Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 5 March 2023 – On February 6, 2023, southeastern Turkiye and northern Syria experienced a tragedy of unimaginable proportions when two major earthquakes struck, followed by hundreds of aftershocks.

The earthquakes, whose epicenter was located in Kahramanmaras/Pazarcık, had magnitudes of 7.8Mw and 7.5Mw and caused tens of thousands of deaths, injuries, and extensive damage to thousands of buildings in both countries. They struck northern Syria and south central Turkiye leaving a trail of death and destruction never seen in recent history.

As of 1^st March 2023, Türkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) reported at least 45,000 people dead and more than 108,000 people injured in ten provinces with many people of all ages still unaccounted for.

On the Syrian side, an excess of 1,414 people died and thousands more were wounded. Buildings were reported collapsed from the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkiye’s Diyarbakir, more than 330 kilometers (200 miles) to the northeast.

In Türkiye alone, reports suggest that over 160,000 buildings comprising 520,000 apartments have collapsed or are severely damaged, the worst to happen in a century.

This tragedy has worsened the humanitarian situation in Gaziantep, a Turkish provincial capital, where more than 2 million inhabitants were heavily affected by the influx of Syrian refugees caused by the decade-long war in Syria. In the past decade, Turkiye has been hosting millions of refugees on its soil, most of them displaced Syrians. 

In an effort to provide a timely response, in Türkiye, the IsDB is working on an emergency program with the Turkish Red Crescent (Kizilay) the first humanitarian organization in the country to provide Food and Non-Food items to the survivors.

The emergency program is targeting 65,000 people from Adıyaman, Malatya, Hatay, Osmaniye, Gaziantep, and K.Maraş to receive 28,250 food packages comprising: sunflower oil, olive oil, tea, flour, osmanncik rice, dried beans, red lentils, tomato paste, bulgur, green lentil, pasta, tahini halva, chocolate paste, and jam. Families will also receive more than 8,000 Hygiene kits to protect them and their children against water-borne diseases.

In Syria as well, IsDB will be one of the few international development institutions that are working in the country. This time, it is partnering with Qatar Red Crescent Society, the first among the humanitarian organizations to be on the ground. The Bank’s support will contribute to efforts by the International Community to save lives and alleviate the suffering of the afflicted people in northwestern Syria.

Through IsDB support, nearly 37,500 people will be receiving 7,500 ready-to-eat food (fava beans, halva, canned tuna, sugar, zaatar, dried apricot, jam, olive oil) and 1,750 dry-food (rice, bulgur, sunflower oil, olive oil, sugar, red lentil, green lentil, pasta, vermicelli, tomato paste, chickpeas, bean white). The Bank will provide shelter (blanket, mattress, pillow, jerry can, hasira, soap) to 250 households (1,500 people) and health care by distributing 1,280 medical trauma supply kits.

Beyond this immediate support, in the medium-to-long term, IsDB will continue to engage with the authorities and development partners to develop a program for rehabilitation in the affected areas which will contribute towards robust and resilient development that improves lives, livelihoods, economies, and infrastructure.