2023 – Türkiye Humanitarian Action Overview

Rebuilding After the Earthquakes: New Homes and Ongoing Recovery Efforts

Ömer Bulut

President, Housing and Development Administration (TOKİ)

One-third of Türkiye’s territory lies on an active earthquake fault zone, placing a large majority of the nation’s population lives in areas under serious threat of earthquake. Several Turkish cities are, in fact, among the highest-risk areas for earthquakes worldwide. In the last quarter century, Türkiye endured a series of devastating earthquakes, namely, the 1999…

Weather-Related Disasters in Türkiye for 2023

Volkan Mutlu Coşkun

General Director, Turkish State Meteorological Service

Natural disasters are, essentially, normal natural phenomena that, if not for their impact on human life, would not be considered disasters in the first place. The UN defines natural disasters as events that seriously disrupt the functioning of a community or society and that result in substantial damage to property and loss of life. Beyond…

Türkiye’s National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE) in 2023

Şükrü Yorulmaz

Ministry of Health, General Directorate of Emergency Health Services

Known by the acronym UMKE in Türkiye, the National Medical Rescue Team began 2023 with the simple expectation of conducting drills and expanding its volunteer base. This all changed on 6 February when, at 4:17 a.m., the first of a series of earthquakes now referred to internationally as the Türkiye–Syria earthquakes struck southeastern Türkiye, impacting…

Compulsory Earthquake Insurance – TCIP in 2023

Selva Eren

General Manager of Türk Reasürans A.Ş. and TCIP

Known in Turkish by the acronym DASK, the Turkish Natural Catastrophe Insurance Pool (TCIP) was established in 2000 in response to the 1999 Izmit earthquake. Since its inception, TCIP has worked diligently to restore a sense of normalcy in the wake of natural disasters. The year 2023 was challenging for all of Türkiye, as the…

A Year of Solidarity: Parallel Emergencies, One Red Pillar

Jessie Thomson

IFRC Head of Türkiye Delegation

Indeed, 2023 was an unprecedented year for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Türkiye. We embarked on the year with a focus on transitioning the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) program, our largest cash program in the world, and quickly found ourselves in the midst of a large-scale…

2023 Perspective of the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office in Türkiye

Babatunde A. Ahonsi

UN Resident Coordinator in Türkiye

Current Situation The operational work of the UN in Türkiye in 2023 experienced significant shifts following the devastating earthquakes that struck the southeastern provinces on 6 February 2023. The widespread and multifaceted impact of these earthquakes severely undermined the progress made thus far to achieve sustainable development goals in the region. The earthquakes inflicted extensive…

Türkiye in 2023: Insights from UNHCR

Angela Li Rosi

The UNHCR Representative in Türkiye

The number of people forced to abandon their homes has reached an all-time high. By the end of June 2023, an alarming 110 million people worldwide had been displaced by persecution, war, human rights violations, and severe disruptions to public order. In a similar vein, the global refugee population rose to 36.4 million by mid-2023,…

FAO’s Emergency Response Approach: Earthquake Response in Türkiye

Viorel Gutu

Subregional Coordinator, Central Asia and FAO Representative for Türkiye

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the UN dedicated to eradicating hunger, improving nutrition, boosting agricultural productivity, enhancing the sustainable management of natural resources, and raising the standard of living of rural populations. FAO translates these objectives into actionable strategies through various means. For instance, the current Strategic Framework (2022–2031)…

Türkiye’s Actions in Humanitarian Aid: An Overview of 2023 International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Gerard Karl Waite

Chief of Mission, IOM

The earthquakes that struck southeastern Türkiye in February 2023 triggered a crisis that would have deep implications for the entire nation. We at IOM mourned the loss of three of our own colleagues, and many more of our team members and their loved ones were directly affected. Nevertheless, our team demonstrated remarkable resolve in the…