How to ensure social inclusion in post-disaster recovery : improving national and international relief efforts

Abstract

On 6 February 2023, Southeast Türkiye and Northwest Syria were hit by magnitude-7.8 and magnitude-7.5 earthquakes within a couple of hours of each other, with more than thousands of aftershocks. The scale of destruction and predicted long-term effects were unprecedented. This policy brief details the impact of this natural hazard on Syrians living under Temporary Protection in Türkiye and how it exacerbates their pre-existing precarious living conditions. It then explains why Syrians should be uniquely included in recovery approaches while rebuilding lives and livelihoods in supporting affected communities to resume their lives. With its policy recommendations, the brief provides a roadmap for main stakeholders in the medium- and long-term recovery to ensure that relief efforts are inclusive in the post-disaster recovery era through (i) ensuring equity for all quake-affected communities, (ii) creating meaningful dialogue mechanisms for communities, (iii) improving self-resilience of the quake-affected communities by rebuilding livelihoods, and (iv) establishing further legal and complementary pathways as effective avenues towards responsibility-sharing.