Earthquake in Türkiye and Syria: urgent measures required to support persons with disabilities



Earthquake in Türkiye and Syria: urgent measures required to support persons with disabilities

Joint press release from:

  • Arab Organization of Persons with Disabilities
  • Confederation of Persons with Disabilities in Türkiye
  • International Disability Alliance
  • European Disability Forum

Our thoughts are with our Turkish and Syrian colleagues, and everyone affected by this tragedy. We call on humanitarian actors to ensure equal access to assistance for persons with disabilities and others who are more at risk. Additional measures must also be taken immediately to address specific requirements of persons with disabilities.

Yannis Vardakastanis, chair of the International Disability Alliance and president of the European Disability Forum

As the catastrophe of the earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria is still unfolding, organisations of persons with disabilities and their families call for the governments of Türkiye and Syria, the European Union (EU), humanitarian organisations, donor agencies and other supporting countries to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities, by fulfilling their obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in particular Article 11 on situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies, and by adhering to other relevant standard and guidelines, in particular the IASC Guidelines on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action.

More than 40,000 people have already lost their lives, hundreds of thousands injured and millions need emergency support in the aftermath of the earthquakes of 6 February 2023, in Türkiye and Syria. There is no data available on the number of casualties among people with disabilities. However, it is recognised that in all humanitarian crises persons with disabilities face two to four times higher death risk compared to the rest of the population, are more likely to experience discrimination and exclusion in receiving life-saving assistance such as health care, and are at higher risk of violence and abuse. Those acquiring physical or psychosocial impairments as a result of the earthquake require urgent support and services and are often neglected. Women and girls with disabilities are at greater risk of physical, sexual, and other forms of violence, exploitation and harassment.

According to organizations of persons with disabilities in Türkiye emergency response so far has not been inclusive and accessible. Mustafa Özsaygı, President of Confederation of Persons with Disabilities in Türkiye said:

Our cities, which had accessibility issues for people with disabilities before the earthquakes, have now become inaccessible to the entire population in the region. It is an inevitable fact that millions of earthquake victims will sustain injuries that lead to long-term disabilities. The confusion and disorganisation observed in the first ten days of the earthquakes have once again shown us that emergency disaster preparedness is not enough for millions of people and people with disabilities including immigrants and refugees living in the region and affected by the disaster. We call on the government to actively involve civil society organisations and organisations of persons with disabilities to overcome the current situation and prepare for future disasters.

In Syria, for the last decade, one of the world’s most complex humanitarian crises has claimed thousands of lives and left millions displaced. According to the United Nations Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA) the February 6 earthquake affected more than 8.8 million individuals across Syria. Thousands of homes, health care facilities and schools were destroyed, and many people face significant challenges accessing wash, protection and food. One major barrier to support people affected in Syria is lack of adequate humanitarian access. This means that the already insufficient resources don’t reach the affected Syrian parts. The snowstorm and freezing temperature, combined with lack of necessary infrastructure including transportation, means that millions of Syrian population have not received basic support more than one week after the earthquake.

I can comfortably say that since 2011 when the crisis in Syria started, people with disabilities have been left alone to deal with displacement, war, and lack of healthcare. Infrastructure was not accessible and the social security system was not strong even before 2011. But whatever existed has been destroyed in the last ten years. This earthquake unfortunately hit people with disabilities in Syria and those refugees in Türkiye the worst way.

Nawaf Kabara, President of Arab Organization of Persons with Disabilities.

As the organisations representing persons with disabilities and their families at global, regional and country levels we call on all actors to ensure a fully disability-inclusive response to this disaster, notably:

  • Actively involve and ensure meaningful participation of representative organisations of persons with disabilities and their families in planning and implementing emergency response
  • Ensure that persons with disabilities are included, without discrimination in all search and rescue and needs assessment processes
  • Guarantee inclusive and accessible emergency response services, including accessible information and contact points, transportation, shelter and healthcare
  • Guarantee that all assistance provided including cash assistance, is inclusive of persons with disabilities
  • Ensure that specific goods and services required by different groups of persons with disabilities including hygienic items, assistive devices, sign language interpretation in national sign languages, and psychosocial support are included in the list of urgent priorities for distribution. By no means this additional support required should cause segregation or institutionalization of persons with disabilities.

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