Collapsed building in Polat village, Malatya area, following the earthquakes that hit Turkiye and Syria in February. Turkiye, May 2023. © Stefan Pejovic/MSF
Now that the most acute needs have largely been met, as a medical humanitarian organization providing assistance in emergencies, we have started handing over our activities to local organisations and authorities. Throughout the coming months, we will still offer some support to local organizations that continue offering relief services.Ozan Ağbaş, Emergency Support Manager
Emergency response and relief in Turkiye
Doctors Without Borders-supported teams were among the first to offer psychological support to families of the victims, the first response volunteers, and search and rescue teams. During the emergency phase of the response, Doctors Without Borders-supported NGO staff delivered 4,344,792 liters of water, 96,6 tons of fruits and vegetables, 38,841 hygiene kits, provided and installed 173 showers, 350 toilets, donated 65 containers and 375 tents, while 10,133 people received psychosocial support. They also donated an X-ray machine to a hospital in Kahramanmaraş, and water pump and tanks to the Hatay Training and Research Hospital.
In addition, Doctors Without Borders helped construct three "NEFES" centers - in Adıyaman, Kahramanmaraş, and Malatya provinces - which serve as essential psychosocial and living spaces. These centers are a ‘safe haven’ in central locations, open to all people, especially to women and girls, offering psychosocial activities for children, washing machines, showers, and separate rooms for mothers with newborns so that they can breastfeed in peace. Running “NEFES” will be supported by Doctors Without Borders, even after scaling down the activities.
Doctors Without Borders financed and supported local NGOs to build and establish three so-called "Nefes" centers, in Adiyaman, Malatya and Elbistan. This is a "safe haven" in central locations, open to all people, especially to women and girls. Turkiye, May 2023. © Stefan Pejovic/MSF
Around 900,000 people live in informal settlements, with 200,000 in tent cities. Doctors Without Borders, through the local NGOs we support in Türkiye provided water and sanitation services (WASH) to several camps in sub urban areas of Hatay, including the Sofular neighborhood, Antakya, where we were the only organisation providing water and sanitation services, also offering non-food items distribution and psychosocial support to the affected people. Turkiye, May 2023. © Stefan Pejovic/MSF
“This is the fifth time in the last 30 years that Doctors Without Borders has worked hand in hand with local groups and staff to assist people affected by earthquakes in Türkiye. Either directly, or by supporting local NGO’s, our teams responded to the earthquakes in 1996, 1999, 2011, and now in 2023. As an independent, neutral and impartial international medical humanitarian organization, we remain ready to support people in Türkiye in the future, should our assistance be required,” Ozan Ağbaş said.
All Doctors Without Borders relief activities in Türkiye were carried out by supporting local NGOs, including Imece Inisiyatifi, Yardım Konvoyu, Maya Vakfı and others. Since the early phase of the earthquake response, these Doctors Without Borders-supported NGOs have been active in Adıyaman, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, and Malatya provinces, delivering much needed aid and relief to the affected population.
