WFP Accelerates Earthquake Response in Syria and Türkiye

Published February 10, 2023

ANKARA/DAMASCUS – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered urgently needed food assistance to 115,000 people in Syria and Türkiye in the first four days since deadly earthquakes struck the region, killing thousands and forcing tens of thousands into the freezing outside temperatures. Distributions are ongoing.

“We’re providing mainly hot meals, ready-to-eat food rations and family food packages — things that require no cooking facilities and can be consumed immediately,” said U.N. World Food Programme Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Corinne Fleischer. “For the thousands of people affected by the earthquakes, food is one of the top needs right now and our priority is to get it to the people who need it fast.”

The U.N. World Food Programme is appealing for $77 million to provide assistance for a total of 874,000 quake-affected people in Türkiye and Syria. This includes 284,000 newly displaced people in Syria and 590,000 people in Türkiye, which includes 45,000 refugees and 545,000 internally displaced people.

Operational Updates for Syria and Türkiye

Syria

  • The U.N. World Food Programme has reached a total of 43,000 people in Syria with hot meals and ready-to-eat meals. Thanks to prepositioned food inside the country, the U.N. World Food Programme has enough ready-to-eat meals for 100,000 people and enough stock of family rations to cover the needs of 1.4 million people for one month – the latter require cooking facilities and are ready for distribution.
  • In northwest Syria, through U.N. World Food Programme partners, around 23,850 affected people received ready-to-eat meals that last for one week. In Aleppo, 5,000 affected people received ready-to-eat meals through partners, 6,000 people received hot meals for the fourth day running and 4,000 children received sandwiches at temporary shelters over the past 48 hours.
  • In Tartous and Lattakia governorates, 1,500 affected people received ready-to-eat meals and 1,650 people at temporary shelters received sandwiches.
  • In Hama, U.N. World Food Programme partners distributed RTEs to support 1,020 displaced people for one week.

Türkiye

  • In Türkiye, the U.N. World Food Programme is providing a total of 73,000 refugees and people displaced by the earthquakes with family food baskets that cover their food needs for one week.
  • On February 9, the U.N. World Food Programme delivered food baskets to Osmaniye Cevdetiye camp for 18,000 quake-affected displaced Turks and Syrian refugees. The U.N. World Food Programme has delivered additional family food rations enough for 54,000 people in camps in Adana, Hatay, Kilis and Kahramanmaraş.
  • U.N. World Food Programme teams are delivering food to support cities in southeast Türkiye in expanding soup kitchens that are providing daily cooked meals for quake-affected people. The food will be used to prepare cooked meals through community kitchens to be distributed daily for 2 weeks to around 200,000 quake-affected people in four provinces: Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis and Kahramanmaraş.
  • The U.N. World Food Programme will increase its assistance to Syrian refugees as well as provide food rations for Turkish citizens displaced by the quakes and sheltering in temporary accommodation camps.
  • Refugees are normally assisted through electronic vouchers, but the assistance will be switched to food packages as supermarkets are now unable to accept vouchers. The U.N. World Food Programme will continue to review its response plan, as needs arise.

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About the United Nations World Food Programme
The U.N. World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.

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