Türkiye Earthquake Response Appeal
Humanitarian Action for Children
UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children appeal helps support the agency’s work as it provides conflict- and disaster-affected children with access to water, sanitation, nutrition, education, health and protection services. Return to main appeal page.
Türkiye snapshot
Appeal highlights
- On February 6, earthquakes, with magnitudes 7.7 and 7.6, struck south-east Türkiye, devastatingly impacting 10 provinces and affecting 15.2 million people, including 5.4 million children, living in affected provinces. An estimated 9.1 million people, including 2.5 million children, require immediate support.
- Humanitarian consequences are significant and increasing. As of 15 February, at least 35,418 deaths and 80,278 injuries have been confirmed, and up to 47,000 buildings have been affected. Over 1 million people are staying in temporary accommodation, facing adverse winter conditions. Over 1,360 unaccompanied children have been identified. Access to education is hampered for nearly 4 million children, including 350,000 refugee and migrant children. School opening is postponed to 1 March 2023 in affected provinces.
- Displacement and disruption of essential services has been massive. Immediate support is required to complement the Government of Türkiye’s humanitarian response. Under the leadership of the Government and within the interagency framework for the earthquake response, UNICEF will continue to support and scale up the provision of supplies and services, building on national systems and existing programmes, capacities, and partnerships to reinforce life-saving support.
- UNICEF requires US$196 million to reach 3 million people, including 1.5 million children, for three months. This includes the provision of critical supplies and water, sanitation and hygiene, health, nutrition, child protection, education, early childhood development and social protection (humanitarian cash) services for children, adolescents, and families.
Key planned results for 2023
1 million children and caregivers accessing mental health and psychosocial support
1 million population reached by critical hygiene and WASH supplies
500,000 households reached with cash transfers through an existing government system with UNICEF technical assistance
1.5 million people reached with UNICEF-provided non-food items
Funding requirements for 2023
Country needs and strategy
Humanitarian needs
On 6 February 2023, two major earthquakes (7.7 and 7.6 magnitudes) struck south-east Türkiye, devastatingly impacting 10 provinces (Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kilis, Osmaniye, Malatya, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Şanlıurfa and Adana), where approximately 15.2 million people (13.5 million Turkish citizens, 1.7 million registered refugees), including 4.6 million children, of whom 811,000 are refugees, live. An eleventh province, Elazığ, has also been affected. The Government of Türkiye has declared a three-month state of emergency in the 10 worst affected provinces and requested international support as it leads the national response effort. UNICEF is targeting these 10 provinces, with a possible gradual expansion to Elazığ. Humanitarian consequences are significant and increasing. As of 15 February, at least 35,418 deaths and 80,278 injuries have been confirmed, and up to 47,000 buildings have been affected. Preliminary findings in Kahramanmaraş report 23 per cent of the city as collapsed or heavily damaged, and in Hatay, the center of Antakya, the figure is over 50 per cent. It is estimated that 9.1 million people are likely to have been directly impacted, including 2.5 million children. Over 1 million people are currently residing in temporary accommodations centers (TACs).
Overcrowded conditions in TACs, limited access to water and sanitation facilities, and proper waste/debris management, pose risks for disease outbreaks. As of 13 February, the Ministry of Family and Social Services identified 1,300 unaccompanied and separated children, of whom 369 are reunited with families and 435 continue treatment in hospitals. In such a scale of crisis, numbers could be huge, requiring specialized protection services. The psychosocial impact on children, young people and families is high and will have long-lasting negative consequences. Children, young people and families may be exposed to abuse, violence, and trafficking, and the protection of children and women remains a key concern.
The devastation has displaced millions of children, adolescents and families. Conditions are aggravated by extreme winter, and families are left without means of support and unable to meet basic necessities. There is an urgent need for cash assistance to restore their dignity and enable them to fulfill their primary needs, particularly as goods and markets remain unavailable.
With health facilities and service providers affected, overstretched health systems may lead to interruption in access to routine health services, including perinatal, neonatal health and routine immunization, putting children, newborns and mothers at risk. Access to education has been compromised for nearly 4 million children, including over 350,000 refugee and migrant children, as the opening of schools in affected provinces has been postponed until 1 March 2023, and affected families are temporarily using schools as shelter. Students in earthquake-affected provinces will be transferred to the other 71 provinces in the country, where capacity will need to be increased to accommodate them. Foreseen impacts on education include learning loss, school dropout and psychosocial distress.
The Government has strong capacity and established institutions and is leading a robust response. Given the overwhelming needs from the devastating impacts of the earthquake, on 10 February 2023, they welcomed international humanitarian assistance to reinforce their national response efforts. UNICEF is committed to complementing the Government's humanitarian response, working to reinforce life-saving support for vulnerable children, young people and their families, in line with the Core Commitments for Children.
UNICEF’s strategy
Under the leadership of the Government of Türkiye and within the interagency framework for the earthquake response, UNICEF will complement and leverage existing national systems, programmes, capacities, and partnerships to respond to the overwhelming needs resulting from the earthquakes. UNICEF will provide life-saving humanitarian assistance through supplies, technical support, and service delivery, working with local authorities in affected provinces to ensure inclusive age- and gender-appropriate services for children, adolescents and their families. This will include water sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health and nutrition, protection, education, early childhood development (ECD) and social protection (humanitarian cash). UNICEF efforts will focus on the 10 earthquake-affected provinces, as well as provinces hosting and providing services for the population from affected areas. UNICEF will coordinate with the Government and the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team (UNDAC) on sectoral assessments, including identification of critical gaps in services and support and needs for immediate response.
In coordination with government partners and accredited non-governmental organizations working at the provincial level, UNICEF will focus on the provision of safe drinking water, as required, as well as the provision or re-establishment of critical WASH facilities, supplies and solid waste management in critical infrastructure including health facilities, TACs and other collective centres where people are seeking shelter. The health and nutrition response will focus on critical primary health care services, ensuring continuity of routine health, nutrition and immunization services and promotion of young child feeding through supplies and technical support. Child protection will focus on urgently addressing critical child protection concerns, evacuations of vulnerable children, including those in government care institutions, building national capacities for identification and provision of individualized care to unaccompanied and separated children, violence against boys, girls, and, women prevention, risk mitigation and response, with a focus on GBV and provision of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) to adolescents, parents and caregivers and establishment of age-specific friendly spaces for provision of integrated response. UNICEF will support the Government to ensure continuity of education, ECD services and learning in TACs, provision of recreational and teaching/learning materials and enhancement of educational personnel's capacity on psychosocial support/referral mechanisms. Building on existing youth and volunteer platforms, UNICEF, in coordination with the Government, will mobilize youth volunteers in the response in affected provinces. Cross-sectoral interventions on gender, disability, social and behavioural change, and accountability to affected populations will be a focus within sectoral priorities.
Immediate provision of critical, urgently needed supplies will be supported to ensure the well-being of children, young people, and their families. Supplies will include winter clothes for infants, children, and adolescents, as well as blankets, heaters, and other critical supplies, according to the needs identified by the UN, the Government, and other partners in the areas affected by the disaster.
Programme targets
Find out more about UNICEF's work
Highlights
Humanitarian Action is at the core of UNICEF’s mandate to realize the rights of every child. This edition of Humanitarian Action for Children – UNICEF’s annual humanitarian fundraising appeal – describes the crisis affecting children in Türkiye; the strategies that we are using to respond to these situations; and the donor support that is essential in this response.
