A psychologist from a Doctors Without Borders-supported organisation conducts a psychosocial support activity for women and men in Arguvan, on the outskirts of Malatya. Türkiye, 2023. © Mariana Abdalla/MSF
A psychologist from a Doctors Without Borders-supported organisation conducts a psychosocial support session for women in Kayatepe (Rezip), on the outskirts of Adıyaman. Türkiye, 2023. © Mariana Abdalla/MSF
Psychologists from an Doctors Without Borders-supported organisation conduct a psychosocial support activity for children in Arguvan, on the outskirts of Malatya. Türkiye, 2023. © Mariana Abdalla/MSF
People continue to be hyper alert and have difficulty concentrating and sleeping. Some have nightmares every night, are forgetful and have lost their appetites. Aftershocks are still happening daily, and people constantly relive past experiences in their minds and believe another disaster could happen.
According to the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD), over 25,000 aftershocks have occurred since the February 6 earthquakes, 47 of them higher than magnitude 5 on the Richter scale. Because of that, psychologists in the organisations Doctors Without Borders supports are noticing post-traumatic stress symptoms are not decreasing.
- Abdurrahman Can's story: “We still can't think clearly.”
Abdurrahman Can is the leader of Başpınar (Küllüm) village in Adıyaman. He shares his story and feeling:
“I lost my daughter-in-law and my grandchild. I kept my grandchild’s body in the car for two days until we could finally find his mother’s body and bury them both. We didn't even get a shroud. We wrapped them with a blanket. The hospitals were full of dead bodies.
I have four children, two girls and two boys. One of them lost his wife and child. Another one was able to get his child out of the rubble alive. All their houses are gone, there is nothing left. They couldn't get anything out.
We paid a price, we lost lives, we lost a lot of property.
During the first days we were sleeping in our cars. Now we are staying in tents; we cannot go inside [our house].There is a lot of fear. There are aftershocks a couple of times a day, every day. We still can't even think clearly. We lost our sleeping patterns. We are starting to have family issues.
We need material and moral support. Everyone is stressed, but we are trying to recover. We are here as a family, trying to hold on to life. Now, at least we know that someone is listening to us.”
In rural areas, such as Başpınar (Küllüm) and Kayatepe (Rezip) villages in Adıyaman, where İmece İnisiyatifi (Imece Initiative) runs support activities, most of the families have lost at least one person and are trying to rebuild their livelihood and communities. They are also having to host relatives coming from other locations. People coming from the cities often feel like urban spaces are too dangerous so go to the countryside.
For the people who remain in urban areas, the needs created by the earthquakes can exacerbate pre-existing tensions between different groups over resources. The scale of the disaster means needs for food, water and sanitation, as well as tents and other non-food items are overwhelming. Yardım Konvoyu (Aid Convoy Association), with the support of Doctors Without Borders, focuses on distributions to people in informal makeshift camps, set up in parks and parking lots.
Losing livelihoods creates yet another challenging situation people must adapt to, says Koytak.
Eylül, 13, lives in Kayatepe (Rezip) village in Adıyaman.
“I can’t sleep well these days. I also can’t study. It feels like all the information I had in my mind is now gone. Whatever I used to know before, I don’t know anymore.” Türkiye, 2023. © Mariana Abdalla/MSF
“People can’t get back to work or to their household routines. Adıyaman is a destroyed city, for instance. With time, this situation, together with fear, will affect more and more people’s emotions and behaviours, making recovery a lot more difficult in the long run”.
The local organisations that Doctors Without Borders supports provide psychosocial assistance to a wide range of people affected by the earthquakes: Turkish healthcare workers, Syrian refugees, volunteers, men, women and children. Psychosocial support can take many different forms, particularly for children who often benefit from simple activities such as drawing, dancing or listening to music.
The earthquakes were devastating, and their consequences will affect people’s lives for years to come. By working with local organisations in providing psychosocial support, Doctors Without Borders aims to help people access tools to enable them to further develop the strength and resilience necessary to rebuild and to process the immense trauma they have experienced.
In Türkiye, Doctors Without Borders is supporting local organisations such as Imece İnisiyatifi and Yardım Konvoyu.
İmece İnisiyatifi is a non-profit organization based in Izmir, Turkey and is centred around the traditional Turkish principle of "imece", which emphasizes collective action and mutual support. Focused on community development through community-based approaches, since the earthquakes, the organisation is conducting emergency relief items distributions, as well as education and psychosocial support activities for vulnerable populations.
Maya Vakfi is a Turkish non-profit organisation focused on the mental, physical and academic development of children and young people aged 5 to 24 years old, as well as their caregivers. Currently, as part of its response to the earthquakes and its growing experience in disaster response, the organisation is conducting psychosocial activities and events to improve the coping skills and healing process of people affected by the earthquakes. Maya Vakfi is also providing capacity-building and wellbeing activities focused on public employees responding in the long term.
Yardım Konvoyu is an emergency response organisation based in Istanbul, working in disaster and crisis areas providing relief efforts, with a focus on health, water and sanitation and food security. Since the earthquakes, the organisation has responded on the ground in Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman, Hatay and Gaziantep.
