On February 6, 2023, south-eastern Türkiye, which stands on the south-eastern Anatolian fault line, was hit by two consecutive major earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6, with epicentres in Pazarcık (Kahramanmaraş) and Elbistan (Kahramanmaraş). On February 20, another earthquake with a magnitude 6.4 shook the region primarily affecting the Yayladağı district of the province of Hatay. The earthquakes affected 11 provinces including Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman, Gaziantep, Malatya, Osmaniye, Adana, Diyarbakır, Şanlıurfa, Kilis, and Elazığ with a total population exceeding 14 million. The region was hosting more than 1.8 million migrants and refugees, the majority of whom are Syrians under temporary protection. The devastation was massive, the earthquakes claimed more than 53,000 lives and injured more than 107,000 people, official sources reported.
This report is the outcome of a project aimed at contributing to the knowledge base for designing and implementing evidence-based interventions for the recovery of the earthquake affected region in Türkiye.
