Türkiye’s Ministry of Family and Social Services (henceforth MoFSS) is committed to improving the welfare of our country’s people, both at the individual and family level, by delivering social services to every segment of society. In pursuit of this mission, MoFSS aims to drive social change by developing and implementing equitable, demand-driving policies that proactively address social risks before they rear their head—holistic policies that specifically target the improvement of well-being for individuals, families, and society as a whole through comprehensive and collaborative programs.
To achieve these goals, MoFSS provides rights-based social services, operates various assistance programs, and implements targeted policies that address the everyday needs of the average person. These efforts are purposefully designed to protect and improve the welfare of families, children, women, persons with disabilities, the elderly, people living in poverty, the next of kin of fallen soldiers, and veterans.
Environmental change has exacerbated the devastating material loss and emotional trauma wrought upon individuals and families by disasters. As a nation, we faced unprecedentedly catastrophic disasters in 2023. In addition to social and economic support systems, psychosocial services play an instrumental role in mitigating the long-term destructive impact of disasters on individuals and communities and facilitating their empowerment in the aftermath.
Based on the experiences gained from domestic disasters, Türkiye’s Ministry of the Interior’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) developed Türkiye’s Disaster Response Plan (TAMP) to respond more effectively to disasters. TAMP outlines the roles and responsibilities of teams and coordination units involved in emergency response operations and establishes principles for interventions before, during, and after disasters. Encompassing ministries, private sector entities, NGOs, and individuals involved in emergency response operations, TAMP assigns MoFSS two core responsibilities during such events.
MoFSS is responsible for identifying and addressing the needs created by wildfires, earthquakes, floods, and other disasters to ensure the community’s safety and welfare. As such, the ministry oversees the management of material donations and distribution logistics, and provides psychosocial support.
MoFSS is also responsible for overseeing 1,003 Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundations as part of its donation management and logistics operations. These foundations, in collaboration with Provincial Directorates of Family and Social Services, form volunteer Disaster Emergency Social Assistance teams. These teams collect and sort in-kind donations at designated collection centers and ensure that disaster victims receive essential social assistance—including food, clothing, and shelter—without undue delay.
As part of its psychosocial support responsibilities, MoFSS is tasked with delivering disaster victims with psychosocial services designed to mitigate long-term psychological trauma, support their return to everyday life, and equip them to manage similar events in the future.
Restoring the affected area to its pre-disaster conditions, compensating for the damage incurred, and reestablishing societal normalcy are crucial objectives in the post-disaster phase. Psychosocial support teams play a key role by empowering disaster victims to overcome trauma, regain a sense of normalcy, and actively participate in their community’s recovery. These teams work intensively to facilitate individual resilience, foster community solidarity, and support the reestablishment of social cohesion. The services provided aim to deliver effective long-term effective solutions that focus on recovery, development, self-sufficiency, and strengthening social bonds. Ensuring the effective and sustainable delivery of these services is central to obtaining lasting solutions. The ultimate goal is to address the destructive impacts of disasters, facilitate healing, promote development, restore self-sufficiency, and enhance social connections.
The two earthquakes that struck Türkiye’s province of Kahramanmaraş on 6 February 2023 wrought massive destruction onto approximately fourteen million people across eleven provinces—not to mention across the border in Syria. The fact that these two earthquakes occurred mere hours apart greatly exacerbated the severity of the crisis. In response, central and regional units were swiftly mobilized to provide aid and assistance to the affected areas.
A total of 2,610 individuals receiving services in government-run residential care institutions—including children’s homes, rehabilitation centers, women’s shelters, and nursing homes—were relocated to safe areas.
MoFSS established a team of 1,300 Disaster Emergency Social Assistance volunteers to manage donation centers and distribution logistics.
MoFSS took the following immediate actions to support those affected by the February earthquakes:
- Allocated ₺1.85 billion to Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundations to aid earthquake victims.
- Established seventy-two national and sixteen international donation centers to accept and distribute in-kind donations made by individuals and organizations.
- Set up 206 social markets within the earthquake zone and ninety-four additional markets in provinces outside the affected zones.
- Deployed fourteen mobile social markets within the earthquake zone.
- Set up twenty-seven tents to provide essential clothing and care items to women and children.
- Coordinated 487 flights to deliver in-kind donations.
- Dispatched more than thirty-seven thousand aid trucks to in-kind donation centers.
Immediately upon deployment, psychological support teams began identifying needs, providing psychological first aid, and holding individual consultations in hospitals, tent cities, and other places where earthquake victims had taken shelter. By the end of 2023, these teams had provided psychosocial support to 4,123,247 individuals both within and outside of the disaster zone. The professionals involved in these efforts received comprehensive training prior to deployment and were assigned supervisors during the course of the program to maximize the effectiveness of the services they provided.
Women’s cooperative workshops were set up in designated areas within disaster zones where women could improve their skills, earn money to help support their families, and stay occupied so as to help them keep their minds off the distress caused by the earthquakes.
AFAD collaborated closely with Türkiye’s Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of National Education to help children who had lost their parents in the earthquake or had been separated from their families amidst the ongoing chaos. MoFSS established a 24-hour hotline to handle reports, requests, and notifications about missing children. The ministry used its official social media accounts to keep the public abreast on rescued children whose next of kin were unknown, children whose identities were unknown, children unable to communicate, and children confirmed dead in the disaster. MoFSS established records for 1,912 children separated from their families in the ministry’s Disaster Management Child Module. Of these, 1,874 children were successfully reunited with their families or relatives following verification of their identities, six received specialized child services, one was treated at a hospital, and fifteen were placed in institutions managed by MoFSS. Unfortunately, sixteen children were confirmed deceased after further investigation. In light of the above, the whereabouts of all 1,912 unidentified children were accounted for.
MoFSS systematically monitors and identifies the risks and needs of those children affected by the earthquakes through its Orphan and Vulnerable Child Services Units and the Safe the Children Teams.
MoFSS organized a team of 120 sign language interpreters to facilitate faster communication with hearing-impaired individuals. This team worked on the ground both to address their specific needs and to coordinate with teams from partner organizations.
MoFSS opened six Rest Houses to help reintegrate individuals with disabilities into society and resume their daily routines. These centers were designed to foster high-quality social interactions and provide engaging leisure activities.
MoFSS signed cooperation protocols with various NGOs to address the needs of earthquake victims, provide psychosocial support services, conduct activities for children and adolescents living in tempoary shelters, and establish child- and family-friendly centers in disaster areas.
MoFSS played an active role in mitigating the impact of the Türkiye–Syria earthquakes and, by means of its extensive regional network and qualified personnel, effectively addressed the resulting damage and facilitated recovery efforts. The ministry continues to support earthquake victims through ongoing field operations.