essay about earthquake in turkey and syria

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

What We Know About the Earthquake in Turkey and Syria

As the death toll rises in the one of the deadliest quakes in decades, a global humanitarian aid effort faces deep challenges.

By The New York Times

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria in early February killed tens of thousands of people, flattened wide areas of cities and sent the region, which was already grappling with a refugee crisis and over a decade of war , into a monumental recovery effort.

As of Feb. 24, the death toll in Syria and Turkey had surpassed 49,000. In Turkey, the authorities said that more than 43,000 people had died; in Syria, the death toll crossed 5,500, according to figures from the United Nations.

Thousands of buildings were destroyed or rendered unstable , leaving hundreds of thousands of people without shelter in rain, snow and temperatures that often dip below freezing. Millions are in need of aid, according to relief agencies; in Syria alone, the United Nations said that as many as 5.3 million might have lost their homes.

In the bitter cold, rescue workers pulled thousands of survivors from the rubble, but experts say that the chances of rescuing more decline sharply a few days after a quake. Even after that period, there have been some miraculous rescues . In recent days, desperation has increasingly set in as the rescue missions have turned to recovery.

The situation for survivors in both Syria and Turkey is dire, with people reluctant to return to their homes and using bonfires of wreckage to stay warm , huddling in cars and suffering frequent power outages and shortages of fuel. They are also short on food and medical supplies.

Turkey has imposed a three-month state of emergency in 10 provinces, and the national emergency agency has distributed a huge quantity of tents and mobilized thousands of vehicles, including excavators, cranes and tow trucks, with the help of more than 230,000 relief workers. Dozens of countries have sent teams and supplies, and a makeshift health care system has sprung up.

The quake zone in Turkey stretches across more than 200 miles, from the Mediterranean in the south across mountains and to the east-central highlands and into northwestern Syria. Snow-covered mountain passes, buckled highways and buildings that collapsed over roads have all delayed the arrival of rescue teams and aid.

Getting help to Syria has been complicated by the country’s civil war, the division of territory in its northwest and the acrimonious relations between President Bashar al-Assad and many Western nations.

The United Nations’ secretary general, António Guterres, has announced the launch of a $397 million humanitarian appeal for Syria over three months.

The Syrian border

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, the only United Nations-approved crossing to bring international aid into northwestern Syria was, for a time, not functioning because of damage in the area , according to U.N. officials.

Some food, clothes, blankets and other supplies have arrived — received by exhausted and frustrated rescuers and doctors who say it is still not nearly enough, especially in a region where many people were displaced by war and struggling to survive before the earthquake.

The United Nations’ top aid official said on Feb. 12 that aid efforts so far had “failed the people of northwest Syria.”

“They rightly feel abandoned,” the official, Martin Griffiths, wrote on Twitter from the Turkey-Syria border.

Rescue workers in northwestern Syria say that without more help from the outside world, there was little they could do. “We felt helpless, just helpless,” said Ali Obeid, 28, a member of the White Helmets civil defense group that operates in parts of the opposition-held northwest.

Much of the international aid to Syria from the United Nations and other agencies flows through the capital, Damascus, allowing the government of Mr. al-Assad to limit what goes to opposition-held areas. United Nations agencies must get permission to then deliver some of the aid across front lines, to opposition-held areas, requests that are often denied.

On Feb. 13, Mr. al-Assad agreed to the opening of two additional border crossings from Turkey into opposition-held territory in northwest Syria to allow the United Nations to deliver humanitarian relief.

The decision, which would let aid flow for three months, was the first time that Mr. al-Assad had cooperated in opening opposition-held territory to such assistance since Syria’s civil war began in 2011.

The Syrian government has blamed U.S. sanctions for deepening the humanitarian disaster the country has suffered since the earthquake. Those sanctions do not target humanitarian aid, and the State Department has rejected calls to lift them , saying that aid efforts were not impeded by the policy.

The earthquake

The 7.8-magnitude temblor, striking in the early hours of Feb. 6, was Turkey’s deadliest earthquake since 1939 , when more than 30,000 people were killed, and among the deadliest worldwide in decades.

A powerful aftershock of magnitude 7.5 followed, and experts warned that there could be more — posing potential risks to the structural integrity of unstable buildings in the earthquake zone.

Turkey’s two main fault zones, the East Anatolian and the North Anatolian, make it one of the most seismically active regions in the world, and more than 70 quakes of magnitude 6.5 or higher have been recorded in the region since 1900.

The epicenter of the earthquake was near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, where around half a million Syrian refugees were living, and much of the city was left in ruins. Much of Antakya, the capital of Turkey’s Hatay Province — known as Antioch to the people of ancient Greece and Rome — was destroyed, with whole neighborhoods in ruins , including the oldest part of the city. Rebuilding cities, where possible, will take years , at least a decade, experts say.

Reporting was contributed by Vivian Yee , Ben Hubbard , Cora Engelbrecht , Matina Stevis-Gridneff , Gulsin Harman , Safak Timur , Jin Yu Young , Raja Abdulrahim , Natasha Frost , Mike Ives , Hwaida Saad , Henry Fountain , Alan Yuhas , Farnaz Fassihi and Farah Mohamed .

Maddie Burakoff, Associated Press Maddie Burakoff, Associated Press

Leave your feedback

• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/what-to-know-about-the-massive-earthquake-that-hit-turkey-and-syria

What to know about the massive earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria

NEW YORK (AP) — A major 7.8 magnitude earthquake followed by another strong quake devastated wide swaths of Turkey and Syria Monday, killing thousands of people.

Here’s what to know:

What happened?

The quake hit at depth of 11 miles (18 kilometers) and was centered in southern Turkey, near the northern border of Syria, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Many aftershocks rocked the two countries since the initial quake. In the first 11 hours, the region had felt 13 significant aftershocks with a magnitude of at least 5, said Alex Hatem, a USGS research geologist.

READ MORE: Death toll rises from powerful earthquake in Turkey, Syria

Another strong quake — magnitude 7.5 — hit Turkey nine hours after the main jolt. Though scientists were studying whether that was an aftershock, they agreed that the two quakes are related.

“More aftershocks are certainly expected, given the size of the main shock,” Hatem said. “We expect aftershocks to continue in the coming days, weeks and months.”

What type of earthquake was this?

Researchers said the earthquake was a strike-slip quake, where two tectonic plates slide past each other horizontally.

The Earth is divided up into different pieces, “kind of like a jigsaw puzzle,” said Eric Sandvol, a seismologist at the University of Missouri.

Those pieces meet at fault lines, where the plates usually grind against each other slowly. But once enough tension builds up, they can snap past each other quickly, releasing a large amount of energy.

In this case, one plate moved west while the other moved east — jerking past each other to create the quake, Hatem said.

Over time, aftershocks will start to die down and become less frequent, Sandvol said.

Are earthquakes common in this area?

The quake occurred in a seismically active area known as the East Anatolian fault zone, which has produced damaging earthquakes in the past.

“Almost all of Turkey is really seismically active,” Sandvol said. “This is not something new to the country.”

Turkey was struck by another major earthquake in January 2020 — a magnitude 6.7 that caused significant damage in the eastern part of the country. In 1999, a 7.4 magnitude quake struck near Istanbul and killed an estimated 18,000 people.

Why was this earthquake so devastating?

The earthquake was powerful — especially for a quake that hit on land. Typically, very strong earthquakes occur underwater, Margarita Segou, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey, said.

On top of that, the quake hit near heavily populated areas. The epicenter was near Gaziantep, a major city and provincial capital in Turkey.

The affected regions were also home to vulnerable buildings, said Kishor Jaiswal, a USGS structural engineer.

While new buildings in cities like Istanbul were designed with modern earthquake standards in mind, this area of southern Turkey has many older high-rise buildings, Jaiswal said. Rapid construction in Syria — plus years of war — may have also left structures vulnerable, researchers said.

READ MORE: What’s at stake in Turkey’s military escalation in Syria?

Officials reported thousands of buildings collapsed in the wake of the earthquake. They included “pancake” collapses, where upper floors of a building fall straight down onto the lower floors — a sign that the buildings couldn’t absorb the shaking, Jaiswal said.

Rescue efforts have been hampered by freezing temperatures and traffic jams from residents trying to leave quake-stricken areas.

“This is the awful level of devastation and destruction that we would expect to see” when a strong quake hits a region with buildings that have not been shored up, said Ilan Kelman, an expert in disasters and health at University College London.

AP journalists Jill Lawless and Cassandra Allwood contributed to this report.

Support Provided By: Learn more

Educate your inbox

Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else.

Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm.

Two weeks after the Turkey-Syria earthquakes – a photo essay

The death toll from the twin earthquakes has surpassed 46,000, making them among the most deadly of the 21 st century

F ourteen days after two powerful earthquakes shook southern Turkey and northern Syria, in what has been described as one of the deadliest of the 21st century, the death toll has surpassed 46,000. Dozens of towns have been reduced to rubble with six-story buildings crumbling in a matter of seconds. After five days, there was already no place for the dead in the cemeteries of the affected regions while hundreds of thousands of people were sleeping in the open air, in often subzero conditions. Many have slept in their cars or in makeshift tents under market stalls, with nowhere else to go. For more than a week, rescuers worked day and night, hampered by a large winter storm, in an attempt to find the survivors.

Above: a pedestrian passes a collapsed building in Kahramanmaraş, southern Turkey. Right, far right and below: scenes of damage to Pazarcık, the epicentre of the earthquake

Babies, teenagers and sometimes entire families were pulled, still alive, from the rubble, to the applause of the people and the tears of relatives. Some survived for up to 11 days buried beneath the remains of their houses. Many families said that, in the first few days after the earthquakes, they could make out the faint voices of relatives under the debris. Then, slowly, silence fell over the piles of concrete and bricks that were once homes and are now tombs.

For 60 hours, Barış Yapar tried to dig his grandparents’ bodies out from under the rubble of their own home. With his parents, Habip and Sevcan, the 27-year-old clinical psychology student tried in vain to remove them. It was desperate work. It took two full days after the two earthquakes before Turkey ’s official disaster relief agency reached the town of Samandağ near the Syrian border. When they finally arrived, the small number of rescuers were stretched thin. The Yapars watched as rescue workers pulled people from the smashed concrete, a number of whom they had known for generations.

Above: a view of the of destruction in Samandağ. Right: Barış Yapar and his parents are now living in the town’s central square, spending the nights in their car. Below: people displaced by the earthquake in Samandağ gather in front of a truck distributing food, clothes and other items.

As in other places affected by the earthquake, Samandağ cemetery had no more room for other bodies. The freshly dug graves are marked with blank headstones, with only pieces of ripped cloth gathered from the victims’ clothing to identify them.

On the street outside the Nurdağı cemetery in the Turkish province of Gaziantep, dozens of bodies lie piled on top of each other on a row of pickup trucks, waiting to be buried. At least five imams have rushed to Nurdağı to officiate a ceaseless rush of mass funerals, sometimes for as many as 10 victims at once. Officials brought in deliveries of coffins from neighbouring villages and as far as Istanbul to provide a final resting place for the overwhelming numbers of bodies arriving in the town.

Top: residents and workers in front of destroyed homes in Nurdağı cemetery. Right: three earthquake victims are buried at the cemetery. Below left: the aftermath in Kahramanmaraş. Below right: a body is carried through the streets of Kahramanmaraş.

“Forty per cent of the people who lived in this town could be gone,” said Sadık Güneş, an imam in Nurdağı. His home had been next to the mosque, which collapsed. Without a place for their prayers, mass funeral services in Nurdağı and the rest of southern Turkey having been taking place outdoors. “I’ve lost count of the bodies we’ve buried since Monday,” Güneş said. “We built an extension to the cemetery. There are still people under the debris. We will bury those ones too, once they are recovered. We are burying the bodies even late at night with the help of citizens who come to help us.”

Yet, even today, tens of thousands of people have been left in the streets. Many families spend the night in front of the ruins of their homes, for fear that they may be looted, warming themselves around a fire lit with wood gathered from the remains of their own houses.

People walk past ruined buildings in Idlib province, Syria .

When the earthquake trembled across the towns in the rebel-held province of Idlib in Syria, people thought it was another airstrike from the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad and his Russian backers. Mohammed Hadi, who lived with his wife and five children in a five-story apartment block, destroyed by the quake, in al-Haram, even thought that Moscow was testing a new type of weapon on people, one capable of making the earth shake. Hadi said the earthquake struck while he was still sleeping and that, within seconds, he grabbed his wife and two of his children and took them with him, outside the building.

Mohammed Hadi, with his two children and his baby daughter, survived at the earthquake.

‘’My wife was gripping my hand tightly as we ran,” he told the Guardian. “But then, once we got outside, she realised two of our daughters were still inside and ran back in to save them.” He described seeing a flash of white, which cleared to reveal the rubble of what was once his new home. The collapse of the five-storey apartment block had claimed his three loved ones’ lives as Hadi watched.

The earthquake has compounded layers upon layers of humanitarian crisis in Idlib. These were homes of people already internally displaced once when the Syrian regime had attacked their villages, forcing them to seek shelter in Idlib. Most said they had arrived so recently that they had been sleeping in houses with bare concrete walls and little else. Idlib had been a place of last resort for thousands displaced by more than a decade of war. Across the province, some pitched their tents among ancient Byzantine ruins in sheer desperation for somewhere to live.

Top: a small makeshift hospital in al-Haram. Above: scenes from a hospital near the Bab al-Hawa border crossing.

The schools in Idlib, which had been converted into hospitals, are collapsing, where the few doctors available are busy treating patients with very serious injuries. These makeshift facilities are run on a shoestring and lack most of the basic medical supplies and medications that us needed to treat earthquake survivors. Hundreds of children were orphaned after the earthquake, joining the other hundreds of orphans from the war.

Jinan, 5, at a hospital in Idlib, Syria.

The Guardian met five-year-old Jinan and her nine-month-old brother Abdullah, filmed trapped under the rubble in a video that went viral a few days after the earthquake. The two children, now in hospital, lost their parents and five other siblings to the earthquake. Jinan had a serious leg wound and the doctor said if it did not improve, they could be forced to amputate it.

“It’s a tragedy,” said Dr Wajih al-Karrat in a low voice. “You see these children here, next to Jinan’s bed. They are orphans too. And the majority still wonder where their parents are and when they will come to get them. First, we want to treat them well. Then, at some point, we will be forced to tell them their parents will never come back.’’

• The Guardian picture essay
• Turkey-Syria earthquake 2023
• Earthquakes

Most viewed

Search the United Nations

Syria-türkiye earthquake response - hero.

In the face of this epic disaster, I strongly appeal to the international community to show the people of Türkiye and Syria the same kind of support and generosity with which they received, protected and assisted millions of refugees and displaced people in an enormous show of solidarity.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres

Türkiye-Syria Earthquake

The devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake near the Türkiye-Syria border in the early hours of Monday 6 February 2023 was followed by another one nearly as strong. The earthquakes that struck Türkiye and Syria caused one of the biggest disasters to impact the region in recent times. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and many more have been injured. Thousands of buildings have collapsed, leaving countless people exposed to unforgiving winter conditions. Schools and hospitals have been destroyed.

The earthquakes struck as the humanitarian crisis in northwest Syria was already at the highest level since the conflict began, with 4.1 million people relying on humanitarian assistance to subsist.

Response on the ground

The United Nations and its agencies are deploying disaster assessment experts; coordinating search and rescue teams; providing emergency relief, food, medical supplies, thermal blankets and other life-saving items. UN convoys have crossed into northern Syria through the Bab al-Hawa crossing delivering shelter and relief supplies.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has sent health supplies to reach 400,000 people impacted by the earthquake. The agency warns that health services need to be restored rapidly to avoid a secondary disaster that may harm many more.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is delivering food assistance and has reached almost 1.7 million people in the two countries.

Early recovery

With countless buildings destroyed, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) early estimates are that up to 210 million tonnes of rubble will need to be cleared in Türkiye alone. The estimated area of debris is equivalent to an area 10 km by 10 km – equivalent to 14,000 soccer fields covered in debris piled one meter high. The destruction has left 1.5 million people homeless and will require the construction of 500,000 new housing units to compensate. UNDP is supporting the Government to remove rubble first – clearing the way to then help vital deliveries of food, water and other supplies, and to begin help restore livelihoods and revive small businesses. 

The UN has released $50 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund to jumpstart the response. 

Secretary-General António Guterres said the UN is committed to doing much more. On 14 February the UN issued a flash appeal for $397 million for the people of earthquake-ravaged Syria, to cover a period of 3 months. On 16 February the UN launched a $1 billion flash appeal to provide life-saving assistance to 5.2 million people in Türkiye through April.

Here is how you can help:

UN Crisis Relief

A massive search and rescue operation continues and humanitarian partners are rapidly ramping up efforts to provide life-saving assistance. You can help too. Donate now

UN World Food Programme (WFP)

To meet the urgent food needs, WFP is appealing for US$46 million. This includes hot meals and food rations to 200,000 newly displaced people in Syria and 300,000 people in Türkiye, including 70,000 refugees.

Donate to WFP

World Health Organization (WHO)

WHO is deploying emergency medical teams to treat injured people, support health workers and maintain essential health services immediately following the earthquake and into the future.

Donate through the WHO Foundation

UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)

The earthquake has destroyed people’s homes and local infrastructure—families are in urgent need of relief items and shelter. Severe winter storms are sweeping through the region. UNHCR is on the ground with emergency items including tents, blankets, and hygiene items.  Donate to the UN Refugee agency

International Organization for Migration (IOM)

The freezing cold, lack of shelter, food, water and medical facilities is creating ever-graver humanitarian needs. IOM remains committed to providing necessary support to its national and local partners to ensure uninterrupted humanitarian aid and availability of lifesaving supplies, including shelter.  Donate to IOM

UNICEF’s response is focused on child protection, providing immediate psycho-social support, assessing of main water stations and respective services, as well as health and nutrition needs.

Donate to UNICEF

UN Women is actively working with partners on the ground to assess the situation and secure life-saving essential items that will help women, girls, and their families. 

Donate to UN Women

UN Population Fund (UNFPA)

Women and girls are among the most affected by the earthquake. This includes tens of thousands of pregnant women. UNFPA's team on the ground is delivering life-saving services including maternal and reproductive health services as well as gender-based violence response services. Donate to UNFPA

The magnitude of the disaster means that recovery will be long and difficult. Clearing away mountains of rubble is the top priority area of support for UNDP in its response to the disaster, along with restoring livelihoods and reviving small businesses.

Statements and News

• Statement by UN humanitarian chief on anniversary (6 Feb 2024)
• Press encounter on the humanitarian appeal for Syria (14 Feb 2023)
• Secretary-General's remarks (9 Feb 2023)
• UN News stories
• UNOCHA News
• Special Envoy for Syria

Tweets by UNOCHA

• Arab-Israeli Relations
• Proliferation
• Palestinians
• Gulf States

Regions & Countries

• Middle East
• North Africa
• Arab & Islamic Politics
• Democracy & Reform
• Energy & Economics
• Great Power Competition
• Gulf & Energy Policy
• Military & Security
• Peace Process
• U.S. Policy
• Policy Analysis
• Policy Notes 130

Disaster Dynamics: Assessing Middle East Responses to the Turkey-Syria Earthquake and Other Destructive Events

Sarah Cahn is a research assistant in The Washington Institute's Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence

Erik Yavorsky is a research assistant in The Washington Institute’s Program on Arab Politics.

Regional generosity was on display after the February 6 temblor, but aid decisions do appear to be driven by political considerations.

For a version of this essay with sources and additional images, download the PDF. 

The massive earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria as of February 28—one of the worst Middle East natural disasters in recent memory—has touched the hearts of leaders and peoples across the world, triggering a flow of urgently needed humanitarian support. Regional states, too, have provided rescue and relief assistance. From the outset, however, politics has played an important role in shaping the scope and direction of such aid. In fact, the politics of humanitarian aid follows a pattern discernible based on previous regional responses to crises, including the 2020 Beirut port explosion and—before it—the 2014 Gaza war.

Aid to Turkey

After the earthquake struck on February 6, countries across the Middle East immediately sent financial aid, dispatched search-and-rescue teams, and provided emergency housing, food, and medical assistance to Turkey, which was at the epicenter of the quake. Politics did not impede this humanitarian support, particularly because of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel. Highlights of regional assistance to Turkey include the following:

• Qatar. Doha is—by far—Ankara’s closest regional ally. Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani visited Erdogan on February 13, making him the first world leader to meet the Turkish president after the earthquake. According to the Qatar News Agency, the country has sent a total of forty aircraft to Turkey and Syria. Qatar pledged 10,000 cabin housing units and so far has sent five ships carrying 1,388 of these. Qatar’s Regulatory Authority for Charitable Activities is coordinating a public donation campaign that raised $46 million, including $14 million from Sheikh Tamim himself, for use in both Turkey and Syria. The Qatar Red Crescent has also played an active role, allocating $1 million from its Disaster Response Fund for aid and pledging to raise at least $10 million more.
• UAE. According to the Emirati government, the Gulf country allocated $100 million in aid to Turkey and facilitated forty-two flights carrying 840 tons of aid. The government also set up two field hospitals and dispatched search-and-rescue teams.
• Kuwait. According to Turkish media, Kuwait has pledged $30 million in support to both Turkey and northwest Syria. As of February 23, eleven cargo aircraft have delivered five hundred tons of aid to Turkey. The Kuwaiti Ministries of Social Affairs, Foreign Affairs, and Interior also organized the “Kuwait by your side” popular campaign for donations to Turkey and Syria, which reportedly has raised more than $67.5 million to support victims.
• Bahrain. Bahrain’s Royal Humanitarian Foundation and the Bahrain Radio and TV Corporation organized a $3.7 million public donation campaign for Turkey and Syria.   Bahrain sent its first aid shipment on February 15 and its first aircraft to Turkey on February 21, carrying 55.7 tons of aid. A second shipment went to Turkey on February 26.
• Saudi Arabia. According to the Saudi Press Agency, as of February 24, Saudi Arabia had flown ten aid aircraft carrying more than 550 tons of relief items to Turkey and had sent at least two teams of relief workers to assist on the ground. Saudi Arabia has also committed to building three thousand temporary housing units for the displaced. As of February 23, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center had raised more than $122 million from a public campaign for victims in Turkey and Syria; it has not yet been delivered.
• Egypt. Egyptian president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi pledged five military cargo planes’ worth of aid. The Egyptian government has delivered at least 650 tons of aid, including tents, blankets, mattresses, and heaters via a cargo ship that arrived at the Mersin port on February 22. That same day, the Egyptian Armed Forces sent two military jets carrying medical aid.
• Iraq. The Iraqi government stated that it sent twenty-six planes with 136.5 tons of aid to Turkey, in addition to a search-and-rescue team. 
• Jordan. In total, the Jordanian government has sent twelve aid planes, twenty-eight relief trucks, and ten thousand tents to Turkey and Syria.
• Israel. Israel sent fifteen air force cargo planes carrying “hundreds of tons of equipment” and 230 volunteers to Gaziantep on February 7 to establish a field hospital. Before that, the Israel Defense Forces had already deployed 150 search-and-rescue experts to Turkey. In total, the Israeli team was the second largest sent to the country, after an Azerbaijani delegation.
• Iran. Since February 7, Iran has sent at least twelve cargo planes carrying humanitarian supplies and 126 individuals for search-and-rescue, medical, and emergency purposes. Furthermore, Iran has constructed two field hospitals in southern Turkey.

Aid to Syria

In contrast to disaster response in Turkey, regional support to assist victims in Syria—in both regime- and opposition-controlled areas—has been shaped by regional political dynamics. Some Arab states used the crisis as an opportunity to rebuild communication and political channels with the Bashar al-Assad regime, which is still under stiff international sanctions. Others maintained their longstanding opposition to Assad, focusing their rescue and relief support solely on opposition-controlled areas.

Regime-Controlled Syria

Foreign aid to Assad-controlled areas of Syria has broken down as follows:

• UAE. According to a dashboard developed by researchers Suhail al-Ghazi, Noor Abdulfattah, and Tarek Hamdan, as of March 2, the Emiratis had flown 134 aircraft carrying 4,413 tons of aid to Syria. Emirati foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan visited Assad on February 12 in Damascus, marking the Syrian leader’s first meeting with a regional official since the earthquake struck. According to the UAE government, the Emiratis have pledged $100 million in assistance and have deployed search-and-rescue teams on the ground. Additionally, the UAE pledged to provide a health delegation to aid Syrian hospitals and ten ambulances.
• Iran. Iran had flown in fourteen aid aircraft as of February 28. Additionally, Iran helped set up 172 relief centers in and near Aleppo and initiated food delivery efforts. Esmail Qaani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Qods Force, was dispatched to oversee Iranian aid efforts in Aleppo. He then traveled to Latakia, where he surveyed aid efforts and met with local officials including the provincial governor. Iran-backed organizations such as Hezbollah and Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces have also sent assistance to Syria.
• Egypt. Egypt delivered a ship carrying five hundred tons of aid to Latakia on February 21. Two weeks earlier, on February 7, Egypt sent three aid aircraft, landing in Damascus. According to Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Egypt has delivered 1,500 tons of aid to Syria as of February 27.
• Iraq. The Iraqi Red Crescent Society and the Iraqi government flew approximately twenty-four aid flights into Syria carrying at least sixty-eight tons of aid, and sent a humanitarian aid convoy carrying 170 tons of supplies to Aleppo and Latakia.
• Bahrain. Bahrain has utilized the Nasib border crossing with Jordan to get aid into Syria, including forty-two tons of supplies delivered to the Deraa branch of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent on February 21. Bahrain also sent forty tons of aid via an aircraft that landed at Damascus International Airport on February 23. On February 27, Bahrain’s Royal Humanitarian Foundation and Syria’s Doctors Syndicate signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at providing medical treatment in Syria. Furthermore, as noted earlier, the Royal Humanitarian Foundation and Bahrain TV organized a $3.7 million donation campaign for both Syria and Turkey.
• Jordan. The Hashemite Kingdom sent aid convoys to Syria on February 9, February 18, February 20, February 27, and March 2. As of February 27, Jordan had flown three aid aircraft to regime-held areas of Syria.
• Saudi Arabia. Riyadh delivered three cargo planes of relief aid over February 14–16, carrying more than seventy tons of supplies to regime-controlled areas.

Opposition-Controlled Syria

In opposition-held areas, run either by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or the pro-Turkish Syrian National Army, aid has arrived as follows:

• Qatar. Qatari assistance has been bused in via Turkey. According to the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS), the aid arrived as early as the second day after the earthquake, in the form of food baskets and five hundred tents. Later, the QRCS approved the construction of three hundred housing units and deployed doctors to Idlib. The state-run Qatar Fund for Development has said it will support the Syrian Civil Defense organization, known as the White Helmets, by providing logistical and rescue operations, ambulance repairs, and fuel. And in late February, Qatar announced plans to create an “integrated city” in northwest Syria to house some 70,000 people displaced by the quake.
• KRG. Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government sent thirteen humanitarian aid trucks to Jindires, a town in Aleppo governorate hard-hit by the earthquake.
• Egypt. The White Helmets publicly thanked Egypt for providing rescue specialists and medical personnel in the earthquake’s aftermath.
• Saudi Arabia. On February 11, Saudi Arabia sent eleven trucks carrying 104 tons of aid through the Syrian border crossing at Khusn al-Zaitoun. Similarly, on February 17, Saudi Arabia sent ten relief trucks carrying seventy-six tons of aid through the Bab al-Salameh crossing with Turkey. The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center has distributed aid to victims in Jindires, Afrin, and Azaz , some of the worst-hit areas. Finally, on February 28, the King Salman Center sent twenty-two trucks through the Bab al-Hawa crossing and twenty-two trucks through the Bab al-Salameh crossing.
• Kuwait. The Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) is using more than $67.5 million crowdsourced from Kuwaiti businesses and residents to deliver aid, with logistical assistance from Kuwait’s government ministries. The KRCS has been delivering aid to northwest Syria since February 11, providing humanitarian supplies directly to victims. On February 22, the KRCS announced the dispatching of twelve aid trucks to both Turkey and northwest Syria. On February 26, the KRCS sent 120 tons of aid loaded in nine trucks to Syria.
• AANES. The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria facilitated the transit of 145 aid trucks into rebel-held areas. Additionally, two humanitarian aid convoys were provided by nongovernmental entities within AANES territory.

Response to the Earthquake vs. Earlier Humanitarian Crises

While not on par with the February 6 earthquake in terms of casualty figures or physical destruction, other recent humanitarian crises in the region have produced their own politically weighted patterns of humanitarian support.

Beirut Port Explosion of 2020

After the August 4, 2020, explosion in Beirut killed more than 200 people, injured more than 6,500, and damaged tens of thousands of structures, regional states rallied to provide financial assistance and humanitarian supplies to the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Red Crescent.

Qatar took the lead, providing $10 million to the UN-sponsored Flash Appeal for aid directly related to the explosion. According to the Financial Tracking Service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Kuwait supplied more than $4.5 million for a variety of humanitarian aid and reconstruction projects outside the 2020 Flash Appeal. The tracking service reported that the UAE gave in excess of $4.1 million to explosion-related relief, with $312,189 going to the Flash Appeal and the rest benefiting the Lebanese Red Cross and Lebanese government. Meanwhile, the Saudi government provided at least $1.5 million to the 2020 UN Flash Appeal and $1.7 million outside this pipeline , using both state funds and the resources of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center. 

Other countries provided in-kind aid by air and land convoy. Iranian media outlets claimed Iranian sources had sent 155 tons of humanitarian aid, including food and medicine , and that the Iranian Red Crescent Society had established a field hospital in southern Beirut just four days after the blast. Iraq’s oil minister pledged to send thirty tankers containing one million liters of oil, after the country sent 800,000 liters in the immediate days after the blast. Egypt sent at least eleven aid flights to Beirut and opened a field hospital , as did Jordan. Turkey sent a search-and-rescue team, equipment, and tents just a day after the blast. Even Israel, whose army had been clashing with Hezbollah days before the blast, offered medical and other unspecified aid .

2014 Gaza War

Another episode that triggered a swift outpouring of humanitarian support was the Hamas-Israel conflict in July–August 2014, which—according to UN statistics—killed 2,251 Palestinians, injured more than 11,000, and damaged or destroyed some 18,000 housing units. In this instance, the largest Arab donor was Saudi Arabia, which—according to OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service—pledged $83 million in immediate support. Others sent much smaller sums: Kuwait, $13.1 million; Qatar, $6.5 million; and Bahrain, $5.2 million.

Additional aid, especially in-kind assistance, came outside UN channels. For example, Iran reportedly sent ninety-five tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza through Egypt, after the Egyptian government issued visas to an Iranian medical team to enter the area. For its part, the Egyptian military sent five hundred tons of aid via trucks that passed through the Rafah border crossing. Turkey also sent at least $1.5 million in medical supplies and food packages, in addition to bringing at least eighty Gazans to Turkey for medical treatment. Similarly, Jordan transferred at least 180 truckloads of relief to Gaza and the West Bank. During the same time period, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories unit facilitated the transfer of humanitarian aid from American and Italian planes that landed in Israel and also the crossing of more than five thousand trucks into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint.

In October 2014, two months after the conflict ended, Arab states made substantial pledges to rebuild Gaza during a donor conference in Cairo. Out of a total of $5.4 billion committed,   Qatar pledged $1 billion, Saudi Arabia pledged $500 million, the UAE and Kuwait pledged $200 million each,   and Bahrain pledged $6.5 million. But according to a Brookings Institution study that cited World Bank figures, only 22 percent of pledged aid, or $419 million, was actually distributed to Gaza.

During the 2020 Beirut port blast and the 2014 Gaza war, Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia were the top three regional providers of aid, although war costs were far greater than those associated with the port blast, as reflected in aid amounts. For example, the Emirates gave $200 million for Gaza support in 2014, vis-à-vis $2.5 million to Lebanon in 2020. For the earthquake, UAE donations to Turkey and Syria have already reached the $200 million mark, with more to come. (For a full breakdown of aid commitments by country and crisis, see figure 1, at the end of this study.)

Donations in the quake’s aftermath, however, have not always met the need. For example, Qatar provided more than $200 million to Gaza in 2014 but has given only $14 million to Turkey thus far and none to Syria. Similarly, Saudi Arabia’s contributions have not been equal to its past crisis responses; in Syria, it has provided limited aid to both regime- and opposition-held areas.

Provision of aid can shed light on trends in regional politics. In Turkey, the Emirates and Qatar have been the largest providers of pledged assistance among regional states. In recent years, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have all experienced rifts of varying degrees with Turkey, yet each of these states has provided aid to Ankara. Their earthquake assistance fits the mood of rapprochement. Similarly, the large Israeli delegation of engineers, rescue specialists, medical professionals, and aid personnel reflects the recent turnaround in Israel-Turkey relations.

In Syria, the UAE leads regional states regarding assistance to Assad-regime-controlled areas. The Emirates likely seeks to elevate its position as a regional power broker, using aid as a tool to support Assad and his disaster recovery efforts. Moreover, the UAE is leading the regional push toward full normalization with the Syrian regime; UAE foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed has already met twice with the Syrian president in 2023, including in the latter’s first post-earthquake meeting with a high-level Arab official, as previously noted.

Other historic backers of the Syrian opposition, such as Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, have taken different approaches. Qatar and Kuwait have provided assistance only to opposition-held areas. Saudi Arabia has taken a middle approach by supplying aid to both regime-held and opposition areas but providing more assistance overall to the latter.

Ultimately, while Middle East states have been important sources of aid following regional disasters, with the earthquake serving as an important case, politics does appear to play a role in determining the amount and the target of humanitarian assistance. The flow of aid reflects various shades of friendship, warming, and conflict, and also casts light on emerging changes in interstate dynamics.

Sarah Cahn is a research assistant in The Washington Institute’s Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence. 

Erik Yavorsky is a research assistant in the Institute’s Program on Arab Politics. 

Recommended

• Neomi Neumann
• Matthew Levitt

• Patrick Clawson

• Steven Fagin
• Nadwa Al-Dawsari

Regions & Countries

Stay up to date.

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Investigations
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Shopping
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• Auto Racing
• 2024 Paris Olympic Games
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

Key developments in the aftermath of the Turkey, Syria quake

An elderly woman from the Teke family lies inside a tent at a camp for earthquake displaced people in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in Turkey’s southeastern Kharamanmaras province struck in the early hours of Feb. 6, followed by multiple aftershocks, including a major one magnitude 7.5 nine hours after the first tremor. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

A car is smashed after a building collapsed due to the earthquake in Samandag, southern Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023. The number of people killed in the Feb. 6 earthquakes that devastated parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria continues to rise. As chances of finding more survivors dwindled, some foreign search teams that rushed in to help have started leaving. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Earthquake displaced people attend Friday prayers at a camp in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in Turkey’s southeastern Kharamanmaras province struck in the early hours of Feb. 6, followed by multiple aftershocks, including a major one magnitude 7.5 nine hours after the first tremor. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

A man steps out of a green house where he and his relatives are staying after the earthquake in Samandag, southern Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023. The number of people killed in the Feb. 6 earthquakes that devastated parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria continues to rise. As chances of finding more survivors dwindled, some foreign search teams that rushed in to help have started leaving. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

The son of the Sonmez family recovers a carpet from the family flat after the earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in Turkey’s southeastern Kharamanmaras province struck in the early hours of Feb. 6, followed by multiple aftershocks, including a major one magnitude 7.5 nine hours after the first tremor. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Children play in a camp for earthquake displaced people in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in Turkey’s southeastern Kharamanmaras province struck in the early hours of Feb. 6, followed by multiple aftershocks, including a major one magnitude 7.5 nine hours after the first tremor. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Osman Teke, 82, at a camp for earthquake displaced people in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in Turkey’s southeastern Kharamanmaras province struck in the early hours of Feb. 6, followed by multiple aftershocks, including a major one magnitude 7.5 nine hours after the first tremor. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Residentes remove their belongings from their destroyed house after the earthquake, in Samandag, southern Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023. The number of people killed in the Feb. 6 earthquakes that devastated parts of southern Turkey and northern Syria continues to rise. As chances of finding more survivors dwindled, some foreign search teams that rushed in to help have started leaving. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

People recover items from a house affected during the earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in Turkey’s southeastern Kharamanmaras province struck in the early hours of Feb. 6, followed by multiple aftershocks, including a major one magnitude 7.5 nine hours after the first tremor. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Excavators work at the site of buildings that collapsed during the earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in Turkey’s southeastern Kharamanmaras province struck in the early hours of Feb. 6, followed by multiple aftershocks, including a major one magnitude 7.5 nine hours after the first tremor. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

• Copy Link copied

KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey (AP) — Rescuers have pulled more survivors from the debris of the Feb. 6 earthquake that devastated parts of Turkey and Syria even as the window for finding people alive shrank.

Here’s a look at the key developments Friday from the aftermath of the earthquake.

DEATH TOLL RISES

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu updated the death toll in Turkey to 39,672, bringing the overall number of earthquake fatalities in both Turkey and Syria to 43,360.

The figure is certain to increase further as search teams retrieve more bodies amid the devastation.

The powerful magnitude 7.8 earthquake was the deadliest disaster in Turkey’s modern history.

MORE SURVIVORS RESCUED

Rescuers on Friday removed a survivor from the rubble of a collapsed building in the district of Defne, in hard-hit Hatay province, more than 11 days after the powerful earthquake struck.

Hakan Yasinoğlu, 45, spent 278 hours beneath the rubble, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency. TV footage showed him being carried on a stretcher to an ambulance.

Search teams working overnight also found a woman and two men alive in earthquake wreckage.

The latest rescues came as crews began clearing debris in cities devastated by the earthquake .

Neslihan Kilic, a 29-year-old mother of two, was removed from the rubble of a building in Kahramanmaras, after being trapped for 258 hours, private DHA news agency reported late Thursday.

In the city of Antakya, police rescue crews found a 12-year-old boy named Osman alive after retrieving 17 bodies from a collapsed building.

“Just when our hopes were over, we reached our brother Osman at the 260th hour,” police rescue team leader Okan Tosun told DHA.

An hour later, crews reached two men inside the debris of a collapsed hospital in Antakya.

One of them, Mustafa Avci, used the mobile phone of a rescuer to call his brother and ask about family members.

“Have they all survived? he asked. “Let me hear their voices.”

UN AID CROSSES INTO SYRIA

A total of 178 trucks carrying aid from Turkey into northwest Syria have crossed the border since Feb. 9, the United Nations said.

Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the trucks are carrying a “multitude” of items from six U.N. agencies — including tents, mattresses, blankets, winter clothes, cholera testing kits, essential medicines, and food from the World Food Program.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said that according to recent assessments in Syria’s northwest, 50,000 households need tents or emergency shelter and at least 88,000 households need mattresses, thermal blankets and clothing. In addition, the U.N.’s partners says hospitals and medical centers “are overstretched and under-resourced,” he said.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, said it was working closely with Turkey to determine the steps needed to rehabilitate infrastructure in the agricultural sector damaged by the quake, including irrigation systems, roads, markets and storage capacity.

“In Syria, rapid assessments by FAO of areas affected by the earthquakes suggest major disruption to crop and livestock production capacity, threatening immediate and longer-term food security,” the Rome-based agency said in a statement.

SYRIANS’ RETURN

The bodies of at least 1,522 Syrians have been brought back to Syria from Turkey for burial, an official at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, reported that when the numbers from other, smaller crossings are tallied, the number of earthquake victims returned to Syria for burial is 1,745.

Syrian survivors have also begun crossing back from Turkey. Some 1,795 Syrians crossed from Turkey into Syria on Wednesday, the first day after Turkey agreed to allow Syrian refugees impacted by the earthquake to return to their country temporarily without losing their protected status in Turkey, an official at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing said.

The decision allows holders of Turkish temporary protection cards residing in earthquake-damaged areas to cross into Syria without having to obtain a travel permit from Turkish authorities. Normally, Turkey would consider Syrians holding protected status who crossed into Syria without a permit to have relinquished their status as asylum-seekers. They would be required to surrender their protection cards and banned from reentering Turkey for five years.

SPAIN TO TAKE IN 100 SYRIANS

Spain says it will take in some 100 Syrian refugees in Turkey that have suffered in the earthquake. Migration Minister José Luis Escrivá said the refugees would be those considered most vulnerable and badly affected by the quake.

Making the announcement late Thursday, Escrivá said “the earthquake reminds us of Syria’s drama in a tremendous way and we are going to try to help within our possibilities.”

OVER 1,500 CHILDREN SEPARATED FROM FAMILIES

Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said the state was caring for 1,589 children who were separated from their families in the earthquake, including 247 who have not yet been identified.

He said 953 children had been reunited with their families.

Oktay also said search and rescue teams were working at fewer than 200 sites, with Hatay province accounting for the largest number.

Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Frances D’Emilio in Rome, Ciaran Giles in Madrid and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed.

Follow AP’s earthquake coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/earthquakes

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

The earthquake in Turkey and Syria offers lessons and reminders for disaster response

Jaclyn Diaz

Members of a search and rescue operation work Sunday on an area that collapsed during the earthquake in Antakya, in southeastern Turkey. Disaster recovery experts say ordinary people are crucial to saving lives. Bernat Armangue/AP hide caption

Members of a search and rescue operation work Sunday on an area that collapsed during the earthquake in Antakya, in southeastern Turkey. Disaster recovery experts say ordinary people are crucial to saving lives.

In the immediate aftermath of a devastating earthquake, where someone is trapped in their collapsed home or office building and waiting for help, it's likely that the first people to help won't be trained professionals.

"The people who are going to have the most effect on the rescue is going to be your neighbors. Because they're the ones right there, right when it happens," Forrest Lanning told NPR. He's an earthquake and volcano response liaison with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a structural engineer.

Lanning and other emergency and disaster response experts say that no matter the area around the world hit by an earthquake or other kind of emergency, people should know that effective help often comes from the immediate community.

It's one of many lessons experts take from studying disasters like the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that decimated large areas in Turkey and Syria .

As aid trickles in, earthquake survivors in southern Turkey adjust to downsized life

Spreading that awareness, and training people to respond when official rescuers aren't able to do so, are among the measures emergency response experts say are essential to saving the most lives in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

"Events like this are, of course, absolutely devastating, but they remind us of the importance of scientific research and putting that research into practice through building codes and retrofitting [infrastructure], enforcing policy and things like sharing knowledge to establish best practices," Lindsay Davis, the earthquake disaster assistance team manager at the U.S. Geological Survey, told NPR.

Rescue workers continue to clear rubble from collapsed houses in Sarmada, Syria, on the border crossing with Turkey, on Sunday. Hussein Malla/AP hide caption

Rescue workers continue to clear rubble from collapsed houses in Sarmada, Syria, on the border crossing with Turkey, on Sunday.

There are usually not enough search and rescue crews to save everyone

Experts say the growing death tolls — more than 39,000 in Turkey and Syria — reflect how important search and rescue efforts are within the first 12 hours to two days.

The window of opportunity to save people trapped under collapsed buildings "will start to close pretty fast and by the time you get around day four or five, it's done," Lanning said.

Even if a bystander can't pull someone out of the rubble, they can still pinpoint for responders areas where people were located, said Natalie Simpson, the professor and chair of operations management and strategy at the University at Buffalo School of Management.

Here's what we know about what caused the Turkey earthquake

Response efforts will be prioritized in locations where bystanders have already found people alive, she said.

"It takes a long time at each building, to have to listen and carefully remove pieces of the building debris to get to people," Lanning said. And with the scene in Turkey "there's thousands and thousands of these buildings," he added.

This is made even more important by the fact that international teams take 24 to 48 hours to arrive, Lanning said. Generally, there are nowhere nearly enough local search and rescue teams on the ground to respond to each collapsed building.

This was the case in Samandağ in Turkey where civilians were digging through rubble in an attempt to save family and friends following the earthquake. After several hours, a small group of rescuers arrived and they were stretched thin, The Guardian reported.

Knowing the importance of quick, local aid, the Community Emergency Response Team was developed in the U.S. It's a FEMA program that trains volunteers across all 50 states with basic disaster response skills.

It teaches people what to do after a major earthquake, where to get water after an emergency, how to check on immobile neighbors, and how to search collapsed buildings, Lanning said.

Videos show Turkey's Erdogan boasted letting builders avoid earthquake codes

There are factors, like types of injuries and how many search and rescue teams are on the scene, that contribute to how likely a trapped person is to survive. He noted that if a trapped individual is uninjured or has minor injuries, they can last up to a week under a collapsed building.

And miracles do happen. Reuters reported Tuesday that seven survivors were rescued from the rubble in Turkey more than a week after the initial earthquake.

Deploy the military immediately

Simpson with the University at Buffalo said she wishes each time disaster strikes there would be an immediate mobilization of rescue crews and military. That's not always the case, and it wasn't in Turkey and Syria, she said.

The Turkish government has come under criticism for its response. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has admitted "the first day we had some discomforts," but had insisted by the second and third days "the situation got under control."

Huseyin Seferoglu, 23, is pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building in Antakya, Turkey, on Sunday. Petros Giannakouris/AP hide caption

Huseyin Seferoglu, 23, is pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building in Antakya, Turkey, on Sunday.

"The single, biggest failure point in emergency response is failure to pick up on the fact that this is an emergency," Simpson said. The instinct is to wait to get more information.

"With emergencies, all of them, including the aftermath of an earthquake, you're not in Kansas anymore," she said. "These are not normal conditions and so one of the traps that we fall into is, 'Oh God, what's the best thing to do at this moment?' Stop it with 'best.' It's all good. Let's get moving."

In many areas around the world, including Turkey, the military is best equipped to operate in a disaster-transformed landscape and to open airstrips to get aid in quickly, she said.

But the Turkish government failed to immediately mobilize its military to aid in the direct rescue efforts or to establish those all-important field hospitals and airstrips, according to an analysis published by the Middle East Institute, a nonprofit think tank.

Turkey is an earthquake-prone region and will always be susceptible to massive devastation, Simpson said.

"There's a very important lesson here: It's never too early to activate your large-scale response when you're not getting any information out of a region," she said. "I think that that will make an impression on decision-makers elsewhere, that will actually help people in the future."

Simpson said this is also a reminder to: "Activate your military, immediately. The sooner that you get going on that, the better off you'll be."

Mitigation and prevention are critical to avoiding future disaster

People stand by a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, in southern Turkey, on Sunday. Emrah Gurel/AP hide caption

People stand by a collapsed building in Kahramanmaras, in southern Turkey, on Sunday.

"While search and rescue operations are critical, research is very clear that mitigation and prevention are the most effective when it comes to minimizing disaster losses," Davis with the U.S. Geological Survey said.

What is lost when the work isn't done to cut risks to homes and civilians in earthquake-prone regions has been made clear in Turkey.

Lanning said this latest disaster hammers home how important it is for global communities in earthquake-prone areas to strengthen infrastructure to withstand a disaster like the one in Turkey and Syria.

Major earthquakes that struck Turkey in 1999 and 2011 served as two important lessons to officials that the country's building construction needed to be retrofitted to combat future disasters.

Middle East

In turkey and syria, outdated building methods all but assured disaster from a quake.

"A lot of the damage there is because of the type of construction and type of buildings," which is mostly concrete, said Lanning, who has worked for 15 years in various earthquake-prone areas of the world.

This is despite the knowledge that concrete buildings are not the best at withstanding earthquakes. They are very easy to construct and can easily hide imperfections, he said.

Much of the work to analyze this latest disaster and what went wrong or right will come in the following months and years. But it's incredibly valuable work, Lanning said.

"Having earthquakes makes us more prepared. It makes us better prepared and more resilient," he said.

• earthquakes
• earthquake in Turkey and Syria

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• NATURE BRIEFING
• 07 February 2023

Daily briefing: The science underlying the Turkey–Syria earthquake

• Flora Graham

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here

The earthquake destroyed buildings in the town of Jandaris, near Afrin, Syria. Credit: Rami al-Sayed/AFP/Getty

The science of the Turkey–Syria earthquake

A magnitude-7.8 earthquake hit southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria in the early hours of yesterday morning. The quake was followed by a magnitude-7.5 event some 9 hours later, as well as more than 200 aftershocks. The earthquakes did not come as a surprise — most of the region sits between two major faults, the North Anatolian Fault and East Anatolian Fault . Many people who die during earthquakes are killed by falling bricks and masonry — and lots of buildings in Turkey are vulnerable masonry structures packed close together. The situation is even worse in Syria, where almost 12 years of conflict have decimated building standards. More than 5,000 people are known to have lost their lives, and aftershocks and freezing temperatures mean the death toll is expected to increase.

Nature | 4 min read

WHO moots a treaty for vaccine equity

The World Health Organization (WHO) is discussing what would be the first legally binding treaty intended to avoid the deep divides revealed during the COVID-19 pandemic , which saw low-income countries struggle to secure vaccines. The draft suggests a network for distributing drug ingredients, temporary waivers on intellectual-property rights and rapid data sharing. It also includes a “bold” proposal for governments to set aside an as-yet-unspecified percentage of their gross domestic products for international aid. Researchers say that it’s an ambitious attempt, but that it doesn’t do enough to ensure compliance.

Nature | 5 min read

Quantum computing, now with atoms

In the race to build practical quantum computers, systems based on individual neutral atoms are moving toward the front of the pack. For years, quantum bits (qubits) made from either superconducting loops or trapped ions have been the frontrunners. Increased computing power came from cramming more and more qubits into devices. This has limits because each qubit needs a separate controlling unit, and it can be tricky to get the right qubits to interact at the right time. Now, neutral-atom qubits can be created in bundles of hundreds, held in place and manipulated by laser beams called optical tweezers. Once an underdog, the technology’s pace of improvement has surprised researchers . “The path to scale to thousands of atomic qubits is clear and will likely happen within two years,” says physicist Chao-Yang Lu.

Nature | 7 min read

Features & opinion

What generative ai means for science.

Some scientists now frequently use generative artificial-intelligence (AI) systems, such as ChatGPT, to help them write and edit manuscripts, check their code and brainstorm ideas. But the excitement about the use of such tools is tempered with apprehension , because of their propensity to make factual errors, reproduce biases in training data and provide fuel for fakery. They also rely on humans to tag reams of violent, abusive and other horrific content so that it can be filtered out, and require a huge amount of energy to train. Researchers are grappling with these issues, in part by urging more regulation and transparency.

Nature | 12 min read

POLL: WHAT’S YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH CHATGPT?

Nature wants to hear your views on how ChatGPT and other generative artificial-intelligence tools could be used in research. Please take our poll here .

How to go beyond publication metrics

Tracking citations in policy documents, measuring innovation outputs such as patents or citations, and looking at whether studies line up with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are some of the ways to capture how research benefits society . All of these methods have downsides, and none are as globally prevalent as academic citation metrics — but there’s a good reason to keep tackling the tricky task of assessing societal impact, says science-policy researcher Paul Nightingale: “If you could do proper evaluations, the return on investment [into science] would be very high.”

Nature | 11 min read

Smart microscopes adapt to samples’ quirks

Sample-adaptive microscopes are allowing scientists to peer deeper into living tissues than ever before. Their optics can adjust on the fly using software and components such as deformable lenses to counteract effects that usually blur images, such as wriggling mouse embryos and transient events in tissue. For laboratories that don’t have access to the often expensive, custom-built components, computational methods can extend the capabilities of conventional microscopes. “That’s kind of the future of autonomous microscopy — letting the microscope decide when and where and how to act on specific events,” says developmental biologist Kate McDole.

Where I work

Credit: Felipe Vallejo/Equilibrio Azul

Cristina Miranda is a scientific coordinator at Equilibrio Azul, a non-profit organization in Ecuador, where she studies critically endangered hawksbill sea turtles ( Eretmochelys imbricata ). “In this image, we have just attached a transmitter to a baby turtle — a first for hawksbill turtles this young and in the eastern Pacific region,” she says. “Our findings have overturned assumptions that neonates were just carried along by currents,” says Miranda. “We found that one-day-old turtles can swim against the current.” They aim for a specific direction — north by northwest — and have been tracked swimming roughly 2,000 kilometres. ( Nature | 3 min read ) (Felipe Vallejo/Equilibrio Azul)

Quote of the day

“you had this thought of how your life would play out. it’s what you prepared for. but now you’re going to live a lot longer.”.

Pulmonologist Manuela Cernadas notes that some people with cystic fibrosis, who had expected to die young, are making the complicated transition to a much longer life expectancy, thanks to the drug therapy Trikafta. ( The New York Times | 7 min read )

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00373-x

Good news about the lost radioactive capsule that we told you about last week — it’s been found ! The caesium-137 fell off a Rio Tinto lorry driving along a 1,400-kilometre stretch of road in Western Australia. It was spotted just 2 metres off the side of the highway by searchers with gamma-ray detection equipment, in what materials scientist Nigel Marks called a “victory for science”.

The victory could be yours if you enter EU-LIFE and Nature ’s essay contest. The Utopia Institute of Research seeks your answer to the question, what does a perfect research institute look like? The authors of the three best stories, identified by an international jury of scientists and writers, will be invited, with paid travel, to present their essays at the EU-LIFE 10th Anniversary Conference in Portugal. The author of the best essay will be awarded a prize of €5,000 (US$5,300) and possible publication in Nature — two runners-up will receive €2,500 each. Find out more here .

Thanks for reading,

Flora Graham, senior editor, Nature Briefing

With contributions by Katrina Krämer, Smriti Mallapaty and Dyani Lewis

We’ve recently launched two new e-mails you might like. They’re free, and of course you can unsubscribe at any time.

• Nature Briefing: Cancer — a new weekly newsletter written with cancer researchers in mind. Sign up here to receive the next one.

• Nature Briefing: Translational Research covers biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma. Sign up here to get it free in your inbox each week.

Related Articles

Daily briefing: Wild dreams warn of Parkinson’s disease

Daily briefing: Science urgently needs a plan for ChatGPT

Daily briefing: The surprising chemicals used to embalm Egyptian mummies

Daily briefing: ‘De-extinction’ company wants to bring back the dodo

Recruitment of Global Talent at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOZ, CAS)

The Institute of Zoology (IOZ), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), is seeking global talents around the world.

Beijing, China

Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOZ, CAS)

Full Professorship (W3) in “Organic Environmental Geochemistry (f/m/d)

The Institute of Earth Sciences within the Faculty of Chemistry and Earth Sciences at Heidelberg University invites applications for a   FULL PROFE...

Heidelberg, Brandenburg (DE)

Universität Heidelberg

Postdoc: deep learning for super-resolution microscopy

The Ries lab is looking for a PostDoc with background in machine learning.

Vienna, Austria

University of Vienna

Postdoc: development of a novel MINFLUX microscope

The Ries lab is developing super-resolution microscopy methods for structural cell biology. In this project we will develop a fast, simple, and robust

Postdoctoral scholarship in Structural biology of neurodegeneration

A 2-year fellowship in multidisciplinary project combining molecular, structural and cell biology approaches to understand neurodegenerative disease

Umeå, Sweden

Umeå University

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

• Program Finder
• Admissions Services
• Course Directory
• Academic Calendar
• Hybrid Campus
• Lecture Series
• Convocation
• Strategy and Development
• Implementation and Impact
• Integrity and Oversight
• In the School
• In the Field
• In Baltimore
• Resources for Practitioners
• Articles & News Releases
• In The News
• Statements & Announcements
• At a Glance
• Student Life
• Strategic Priorities
• Inclusion, Diversity, Anti-Racism, and Equity (IDARE)
• What is Public Health?

Turkey-Syria Earthquakes: Firsthand Accounts and Public Health Perspectives

Annalies Winny

Aliza Rosen

Search and rescue works in buildings destroyed by earthquakes in Hatay, Turkey. February 21, 2023. 

The response to the February 3 earthquakes in Turkey and Syria is still focused on immediate disaster response—but much has already been learned, and illuminated, through this tragedy that has killed tens of thousands and flattened towns and cities.

In the quakes’ aftermath, Bloomberg School faculty and students shared their insights, including firsthand accounts of the disaster, during a special discussion hosted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health and in an episode of Public Health On Call .

Their perspectives help us understand gaps in the global response to catastrophes—and how they can be addressed to better respond to future disasters. 

This natural disaster has been exacerbated by existing humanitarian and political crises.

Due to the ongoing civil war in Syria, a major hub for humanitarian aid already existed in Gaziantep, Turkey. Unfortunately, this was one of the locations hardest hit by the earthquakes, meaning responders in that area had to first be rescued and relocated before they could mobilize and aid others.

This also meant that when the quakes hit, densely populated areas of northwest Syria—which rely heavily on resources from Turkey—were left largely without assistance, Gilbert Burnham , MD, PhD, MSc, professor emeritus in the Department of International Health , explained.

“There was only one official crossing point, which was seriously damaged by the quake, causing a major delay in assistance,” said Burnham. “Heavy machinery was badly needed, but those resources were already occupied in Turkey,” limiting search-and-rescue efforts.

Survivors need ongoing help as they face a host of health challenges.

Millions in northwest Syria were already displaced before the earthquake—some for the 10th or more time since the war began—and health systems are in tatters from dwindling aid and years of violent attacks on hospitals and other critical infrastructure. Amid freezing temperatures and an ongoing cholera outbreak, the focus now shifts to sheltering and caring for those who have survived.

Paul Spiegel , MD, MPH ’96, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health and an expert in preventing and responding to complex humanitarian emergencies, was deployed last year as the emergency coordinator for the WHO’s Ukraine refugee response. He explained that the time after the initial search-and-rescue period is critical for protecting the lives spared. “You likely will save a lot more people by ensuring you have surveillance and thinking about continuing care and supplies,” Spiegel told the Washington Post . 

Building codes can save lives—but only if they are enforced.

In Turkey, catastrophes like the 1999 earthquake in Izmit, which killed 17,000 people, ushered in strict building standards. The problem: “Nobody enforced them”—and construction amnesties have allowed builders to “buy off” accountability for subpar construction, Burnham noted. These holes in enforcement left many buildings vulnerable in the face of the quake.

Building codes are “one of the most powerful things we can do to protect populations”—but a lack of enforcement can cost lives, said Burnham.

Local first responders must be protected and empowered.

Among the survivors of the February 3 earthquakes is Bara Zuhaili, a Syrian-born vascular surgeon and Bloomberg School MPH candidate. Zuhaili highlighted the immediate response efforts in northwest Syria, despite slow-to-arrive international aid, as proof that enabling local response to humanitarian crises has been effective.

One of those working to support localized efforts is Amany Qaddour, MHSA, an International Health DrPH candidate and executive director of Syria Relief & Development (SRD), a nonprofit dedicated to deploying aid in Syria. Qaddour, who lives part-time in Gaziantep, shared her priority of ensuring that her staff is taken care of with adequate shelter, pay, and mental health support. “If we don’t take care of them, they can’t take care of others,” she said.

It’s worth rethinking how aid money moves.

Ongoing financial support is essential for organizations on the ground—like the White Helmets and SRD—that have already been and will continue to be active in recovery efforts. Qaddour emphasizes that in times of crisis, international partnerships are imperative, but it’s local organizations that have the most meaningful impact, due to their deeper understanding of cultural context and nuance.

Often, however, the bulk of emergency response funding is funneled through the UN and international NGOs—not the most efficient way to deploy funding quickly, noted Spiegel. Given that much of that funding eventually ends up with local on-the-ground organizations, Qaddour added that “sometimes you do need to cut out the middleman” to expedite support.

The response to this disaster should inform our response to the next one.

However shocking this tragedy, the vulnerabilities it lays bare are a common reality in many other parts of the world. “When you look at vulnerability and displacement, and violent conflict, and climate crises, and natural disasters, compounding on some of the most vulnerable people … we need to change the blueprint for how we respond,” Qaddour said.

While the immediate search-and-rescue period is over, the response to this compounded crisis will continue for months and years to come. In terms of both effective and ineffective strategies, and both local and global responses, “we need to be documenting what we’re doing now, finding out how we can apply this to other inevitable crises,” said Qaddour

For individuals looking to help—know what not to do.

“Please do not go there; you will only be detrimental to the response,” said Qaddour. Unless you are a trained responder with a large international organization, “you should not be parachuting in.”

Additionally, she said, “Try to minimize sending [supplies]. We do not want to dismantle the local economies” with massive donation drives of items that might not be contextually or culturally appropriate.

It’s more helpful to support organizations already on the ground in the region, like the White Helmets and Syria Relief and Development . 

Annalies Winny is associate editor of Global Health NOW , a website and daily e-newsletter produced by the Bloomberg School.

Aliza Rosen is a digital content strategist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

Public Health On Call Series: Water Crises—Poor Infrastructure in Communities of Color

Lessons from Pakistan’s Floods

No More Bandages: Let’s Rebuild Puerto Rico’s Health System as a Cornerstone of Disaster Preparedness

Related Content

Rev. Pamula Yerby-Hammack Breaking the Stigma of Mental Health

A Brief History of Traffic Deaths in the U.S. 

Center faculty create guide for communicating with the public about the safe system approach.

Reducing Racial Disparities in Dementia

Somnath Saha: Examining Clinician Bias and Underrepresentation in Medicine

• Introduction
• Article Information

Associations are shown by level of SES, assets, and concerns about political destabilization. PTSD indicates posttraumatic stress disorder; SES, socioeconomic status.

eReferences.

Data Sharing Statement

See More About

Sign up for emails based on your interests, select your interests.

Customize your JAMA Network experience by selecting one or more topics from the list below.

• Academic Medicine
• Acid Base, Electrolytes, Fluids
• Allergy and Clinical Immunology
• American Indian or Alaska Natives
• Anesthesiology
• Anticoagulation
• Art and Images in Psychiatry
• Artificial Intelligence
• Assisted Reproduction
• Bleeding and Transfusion
• Caring for the Critically Ill Patient
• Challenges in Clinical Electrocardiography
• Climate and Health
• Climate Change
• Clinical Challenge
• Clinical Decision Support
• Clinical Implications of Basic Neuroscience
• Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Consensus Statements
• Coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Critical Care Medicine
• Cultural Competency
• Dental Medicine
• Dermatology
• Diabetes and Endocrinology
• Diagnostic Test Interpretation
• Drug Development
• Electronic Health Records
• Emergency Medicine
• End of Life, Hospice, Palliative Care
• Environmental Health
• Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
• Facial Plastic Surgery
• Gastroenterology and Hepatology
• Genetics and Genomics
• Genomics and Precision Health
• Global Health
• Guide to Statistics and Methods
• Hair Disorders
• Health Care Delivery Models
• Health Care Economics, Insurance, Payment
• Health Care Quality
• Health Care Reform
• Health Care Safety
• Health Care Workforce
• Health Disparities
• Health Inequities
• Health Policy
• Health Systems Science
• History of Medicine
• Hypertension
• Images in Neurology
• Implementation Science
• Infectious Diseases
• Innovations in Health Care Delivery
• JAMA Infographic
• Law and Medicine
• Leading Change
• Less is More
• LGBTQIA Medicine
• Lifestyle Behaviors
• Medical Coding
• Medical Devices and Equipment
• Medical Education
• Medical Education and Training
• Medical Journals and Publishing
• Mobile Health and Telemedicine
• Narrative Medicine
• Neuroscience and Psychiatry
• Notable Notes
• Nutrition, Obesity, Exercise
• Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Occupational Health
• Ophthalmology
• Orthopedics
• Otolaryngology
• Pain Medicine
• Palliative Care
• Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
• Patient Care
• Patient Information
• Performance Improvement
• Performance Measures
• Perioperative Care and Consultation
• Pharmacoeconomics
• Pharmacoepidemiology
• Pharmacogenetics
• Pharmacy and Clinical Pharmacology
• Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
• Physical Therapy
• Physician Leadership
• Population Health
• Primary Care
• Professional Well-being
• Professionalism
• Psychiatry and Behavioral Health
• Public Health
• Pulmonary Medicine
• Regulatory Agencies
• Reproductive Health
• Research, Methods, Statistics
• Resuscitation
• Rheumatology
• Risk Management
• Scientific Discovery and the Future of Medicine
• Shared Decision Making and Communication
• Sleep Medicine
• Sports Medicine
• Stem Cell Transplantation
• Substance Use and Addiction Medicine
• Surgical Innovation
• Surgical Pearls
• Teachable Moment
• Technology and Finance
• The Art of JAMA
• The Arts and Medicine
• The Rational Clinical Examination
• Tobacco and e-Cigarettes
• Translational Medicine
• Trauma and Injury
• Treatment Adherence
• Ultrasonography
• Users' Guide to the Medical Literature
• Vaccination
• Venous Thromboembolism
• Veterans Health
• Women's Health
• Workflow and Process
• Wound Care, Infection, Healing

Get the latest research based on your areas of interest.

Others also liked.

• Download PDF
• X Facebook More LinkedIn

Hou WK , Tao TJ , Li CJ, et al. Sociopolitical Factors and Mental Health Following the Turkey-Syria Earthquake. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(5):e2411413. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.11413

Manage citations:

© 2024

• Permissions

Sociopolitical Factors and Mental Health Following the Turkey-Syria Earthquake

• 1 Centre for Psychosocial Health, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
• 2 Department of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
• 3 Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine
• 4 Department of International Education, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
• 5 Department of Special Education and Counselling, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
• 6 School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts

Large-scale natural disasters like the 7.8-magnitude Turkey-Syria earthquake on February 6, 2023, can be followed by substantial mental health consequences. 1 The impact of these events can be modified by ongoing stressors of financial strain, 2 political turmoil, and civil unrest. 3 , 4 This study aims to investigate the associations between earthquake exposure and subsequent probable psychiatric conditions and whether and how these associations differed across socioeconomic status, assets, and political concerns surrounding the Turkish presidential election in May 2023.

A nationally representative Turkish sample was recruited through TGM Research’s internet panel. Participants completed an online survey from September to October 2023 (75.9% response rate). This study followed the American Association for Public Opinion Research ( AAPOR ) and Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology ( STROBE ) reporting guidelines and was approved by the Education University of Hong Kong institutional review board. Upon giving their informed consent, respondents reported earthquake exposure (proximity to epicenter and displacement, housing destruction, physical disability, and bereavement), sociodemographics (including ethnicity, assessed in this study to reflect diversity), assets, and concerns about political destabilization.

Primary outcomes were probable depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire (α = .90), Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (α = .92), and the abbreviated PTSD Checklist (α = .89). We described the prevalence of probable psychiatric conditions (greater than validated clinical cutoffs).

Logistic regression and path analyses examined the associations between earthquake exposure and probable conditions and whether and how the associations differed across different levels of sociopolitical factors (at the .05 significance level). The eMethods in Supplement 1 provides additional information.

The 7585 respondents were mostly aged 18 to 29 years (3172 respondents [41.8%]) and 30 to 44 years (2916 respondents [38.4%]); 3613 (47.6%) were women, 1238 (16.3%) were of non-Turkish ethnicity, and 6347 (83.7%) were of Turkish ethnicity. Prevalence of current (ie, past month) probable psychiatric conditions was 44.2% for depression (3349 respondents), 31.0% for anxiety (2353 respondents), and 47.7% for PTSD (3619 respondents). The Table summarizes respondents’ sociodemographics and the peri-earthquake and sociopolitical associations of probable psychiatric conditions. Higher levels of exposure (ie, internally displaced, physical disability, or bereavement), younger age, female sex, low income, tertiary education or above, being nonmarried, Turkish ethnicity, and concerns about political destabilization were positively associated with probable conditions. Odds ratios ranged from 1.25 (95% CI, 1.11-1.42) for being nonmarried to 3.16 (95% CI, 2.13-4.69) for having a disability due to this earthquake. The Figure displays stronger associations of earthquake exposure with probable psychiatric conditions among respondents with lower compared with higher socioeconomic status (path coefficients ranged from 0.12; 95% CI, 0.01-0.24 to 0.91; 95% CI, 0.78-1.04), low compared with high assets (path coefficients ranged from 0.34; 95% CI, 0.21-0.46 to 0.89; 95% CI, 0.76-1.02), and concerns about political destabilization compared with none (path coefficients ranged from 0.46; 95% CI, 0.06-0.86 to 0.92; 95% CI, 0.78-1.06), controlling for age, sex, and ethnicity.

This nationally representative survey reported high prevalence of current probable depression, anxiety, and PTSD (31.0%-47.7%) 7 months after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake and the political turmoil of the presidential election. Consistent with prior evidence, 3 , 5 earthquake exposure was positively associated with probable psychiatric conditions. The positive earthquake-outcome associations were 2 times stronger among those with lower socioeconomic status and fewer assets, suggesting that in mass traumatic events, disadvantaged populations are more likely to experience disproportionally more adverse mental health consequences relative to those with more resources. 2 , 4 , 5 Concerns about the ready availability of relief services 3 might explain the observed positive association between fear of political destabilization and psychiatric conditions. 6

The limitations of this study are the cross-sectional design and self-report measures of earthquake exposure and probable psychiatric conditions. Notwithstanding these limitations, this study highlights the role that mass traumatic events, coupled with socioeconomic and political factors, play in mental health. These observations suggest that disaster relief needs to proactively focus on populations with fewer resources and aim to restore lost resources during mass traumatic events. These findings also highlight the importance of political stability in the postdisaster context as a pathway to mitigate adverse mental health consequences of these events.

Accepted for Publication: March 13, 2024.

Published: May 15, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.11413

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License . © 2024 Hou WK et al. JAMA Network Open .

Corresponding Author: Wai Kai Hou, PhD, Department of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong, 10 Lo Ping Rd, Tai Po NT, Hong Kong SAR, China ( [email protected] ).

Author Contributions: Dr Hou had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Dr Hou and Ms Tao are joint first authors.

Concept and design: Hou, Tao, Liu, Galea.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Hou, Tao, Li, Wong, Saral.

Drafting of the manuscript: Hou, Tao.

Critical review of the manuscript for important intellectual content: All authors.

Statistical analysis: Hou, Tao, Liu.

Obtained funding: Hou.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Hou, Tao, Wong, Saral, Galea.

Supervision: Hou, Galea.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Galea reported serving on the board of Sharecare. No other disclosures were reported.

Funding/Support: This work was supported by Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee, Hong Kong SAR, China (grant No. 18600320 to Dr Hou).

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Data Sharing Statement: See Supplement 2 .

Additional Contributions: We would like to thank all the respondents who participated in this study. We would also like to thank all the individuals who made significant contributions to the data collection.

• Register for email alerts with links to free full-text articles
• Access PDFs of free articles
• Manage your interests
• Save searches and receive search alerts