Rebuilding After the Earthquake: Psychosocial Support and Agricultural Aid in Southern Türkiye

Published: Jan 22, 2025 Reading time: 6 minutes
On 6 February 2023, a powerful earthquake struck southern Türkiye and northern Syria. The devastating quake claimed the lives of over 53,500 people in Türkiye and at least 8,400 in Syria, leaving an estimated 3 million displaced. In Antakya, the capital of Hatay province in southern Türkiye, the aftermath is still visible—large construction sites, empty spaces, and debris are constant reminders of the tragedy. However, the emotional scars are less visible, and healing will take much longer than rebuilding homes. With funding from the SOS Earthquake Türkiye and Syria Emergency Appeal, we are providing psychosocial support to local women. Additionally, through a project funded by Swiss Solidarity and implemented with Alliance2015 partner Helvetas, we are offering agricultural aid to local farmers affected by the earthquake.
© Photo: Petr Štefan

Antakya, southern Türkiye. On the city's outskirts, large residential areas made from containers still house people who lost their homes in the powerful earthquake that struck southern Türkiye and northern Syria on 6 February 2023. That morning, over 53,500 people in Türkiye and at least 8,400 in Syria lost their lives and an estimated 3 million were displaced. 

Large construction sites, empty spaces, debris, and dust in Antakya, the capital of Hatay province, are stark reminders of the tragedy. Most scars are not visible at first, as locals will never forget, and it will take much longer to heal them than to build new homes.

"My house was here," says Kalime, looking at the empty lot behind the window. Only the home's foundations remain where she woke up at 4:17 in the morning when the earthquake struck. "I was on the third floor and realised that the stairs collapsed. I fainted, fell, and got injured," she recalls with tears in her eyes, "I still hear voices of people who called for help, and I could not help them."

For five days, her village on the outskirts of Antakya did not receive any help. "There was no food, water, or medical help. The first help arrived after five days," says Kalime. Almost everyone left the village in the first days after the disaster as there was nothing left.

"Our neighbours had a tent, so we stayed with them. There was no water or electricity, so we pulled everything from our grocery shop and worked from the tent to help others," Kalime says about the weeks after the earthquake. Now, she lives with her family in a prefabricated house, but the crisis is not over yet, and the trauma continues to resonate.

The post-earthquake trauma will last years

"Sometimes you cannot even go outside due to the dust, the water is not clean, and there are a lot of infections," says Kalime, adding that the socioeconomic impact is even worse. "Some people are alright, but many couples divorced, children left schools, the majority of men cannot find jobs, and many committed suicide due to the stress we experienced," she explains and adds that there was no psychosocial support available.

Thanks to the funds from its SOS Earthquake Türkiye and Syria Emergency Appeal, we helped form 8 women-led groups in 8 villages of the Gaziantep and Antakya provinces who regularly attend psychosocial support sessions. Psychologists and social workers teach 80 women how to identify and manage stress, improve their communication and parenting skills, and effectively conduct self-care.

"We try to cover rural areas that do not have access to psychosocial support. Through training, we aim to reduce the trauma experienced by women," says Emine Yavuz, who coordinates PIN's psychosocial activities. "We are mainly creating the platform to talk, and women are receiving the techniques they can easily repeat at home," she says, adding that the activity will continue with other groups of women in the future.

Kalime participates in one of these groups and notes that the activity is very beneficial. "Often, we are angry, and training helps us to understand the stress, adapt, and work with it. Now we know how to support other women and go back to social life, and we can speak about our problems," she says. "It is important to speak about it because many people still suffer here," she adds.

Restoring farmer's livelihoods

Hatay province was the most affected out of 11 Turkish provinces in the earthquake zone. Two-thirds of residents were displaced, and the official death toll in this province was around 23,000. Over 80,000 buildings in Hatay collapsed or were destroyed beyond repair. The local farmers suffered as well.

52-year-old Zahra Askaroglu has lived in the Defne district of Hatay province all her life. Her father was a farmer here. She also met her husband here, with whom she bought the land to continue farming. Before the earthquake, they produced peppers and tomatoes for themselves and squash to sell at the market. They also had two cows and produced milk, butter, and cheese.

"All I ever earned I invested in my household as I have three sons, and my husband is disabled," says Zahra. Early in the morning on 6 February, everything changed. "We were sleeping when the earthquake struck. The wall fell on my mother, but she survived with injuries," she describes.

The earthquake destroyed their house, so they moved in with relatives and returned only one year later. "There were no workers to fix the water and electricity, and returning cost us a lot of money as we lost all our belongings. Fortunately, we lost just property, not our lives," says Zahra, sitting in their prefabricated house.

Like their neighbours, they began farming from scratch. "I received some seeds from farmers in the neighbourhood; they helped a lot. We also bought other seeds on credit to get started," explains Zahra. One day, she received a phone call from the Department of Agriculture inviting her to a meeting about possible support.

After an evaluation, we selected her for support within the project funded by Swiss Solidarity, and implemented in partnership with Alliance2015 partner Helvetas, and she will soon receive a greenhouse. "We were considering building a greenhouse on our own, but it was too expensive. Thanks to this greenhouse, I can increase my production and have winter crops as well. It will help me use less water and fertilisers and grow new crop types. I hope I can sell more at the market," plans Zahra.

"Thanks to the greenhouse, I will be more independent, and I will fix my house with the money I earn," says Zahra. "You forget all the hard work and efforts once you see tomatoes turn red," she concludes.

A few kilometres away, we met another farmer, Edip Yigitdol. "The greenhouse will make conditions easier, and I will produce more. I plan to grow several types of tomatoes. I will use most of the production for my consumption and sell the rest. I also want to try new products like pepinos to sell at the market," he says.

Connecting farmers with market

Our support will not stop there. Apart from 500 square metre greenhouses for ten farmers, we plan to support other farmers by rehabilitating damaged livestock shelters. In three other Hatay province districts, we will support farmers financially. Each will receive 10,000 Turkish lira for seeds and fertilisers and 20,000 for farming equipment. 

"In the next phase, we want to focus on farmers' skills, such as agriculture, finance, business, and psychosocial support training. After the training, we will support 70 farmers with cash grants. Based on the business plans submitted, each will receive $1,380," says PIN's senior project officer, Kaled Jarkas.

With the financial support of Swiss Solidarity, we will also organise market days where supported farmers will have a chance to present their produce and connect their business with the market and customers.

"In the future, we will work beyond the recovery and look into opportunities for rural development like agrotourism and climate resilience together with local NGOs and partners," says Jan Svitálek, PIN's Senior Advisor on Natural Resource Management and Agriculture. We aim to help make post-earthquake Hatay even better.

Autor: Petr Štefan, PIN Global Communications Advisor

Related articles