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After enduring years of war, displacement, refuge, and life in camps, with the loss of even the most basic essentials for a decent living, the Kahramanmaraş earthquake added further hardship to their lives.
On February 6, 2023, amidst harsh winter conditions, freezing cold, and heavy rain, two consecutive earthquakes with epicenters in the Kahramanmaraş region, measuring 7.7 and 7.6 on the Richter scale, struck 11 Turkish provinces and several cities in northern Syria along the Turkish border. The earthquakes resulted in thousands of casualties, missing persons, and millions of displaced individuals.
The earthquake’s impact was particularly devastating for women, as it destroyed their homes, tore apart their families, and forced them to relive the ongoing suffering of displacement that has been a part of their lives for years. Many women found themselves in camps or other unsuitable living conditions, which affected their stability and security.
The economic situation, already deteriorated by war, was further strained by the earthquake, adding to the financial burdens and causing some women to lose their jobs, making employment opportunities even harder to secure due to the increased requirements.
There was also a significant need for healthcare, medical attention, and psychosocial support, especially for women who lost loved ones or who suffered physical and psychological injuries.
In response to these overwhelming needs, Equity and Empowerment intervened to provide essential services to Syrian women in Northwest Syria through the “Support for Earthquake-Affected Women in Northwest Syria” project.
Equity and Empowerment launched the project to support earthquake-affected women with the goal of addressing their humanitarian needs in Idlib and its countryside, enhancing their psychological, social, and economic resilience, and improving community cohesion.
The first phase of the project targeted 848 women from Northwest Syria between September 1, 2023, and May 1, 2024.
This project aimed to meet the basic needs of women affected by the earthquake in Northwest Syria by distributing dignity kits, improving reproductive health, and alleviating feelings of grief, loneliness, and loss through psychosocial support activities in safe spaces for women, especially those who lost loved ones. The project also aimed to equip women affected by the earthquake with skills to enhance their knowledge and empower them to find employment either within NGOs or independently in the job market through the creation of their own businesses, thus boosting their self-esteem and sense of worth.
As part of the project, Equity and Empowerment distributed 440 dignity kits to 440 women in Kafr Yahmul, in addition to 408 kits to 408 women in Jisr al-Shughur.
The organization also provided group psychosocial support sessions for 440 women and individual sessions for 80 women, in addition to referring 440 women to the women’s clinic contracted within the project.
“At first, I was just scared after the earthquake, but after months, I felt depressed, like there was no safe place, no desire to live, and sometimes I had thoughts of ending my life. When I started hearing the other women, I realized I wasn’t the only one feeling this way, and then I learned that it’s normal and that it will pass,”
shared one of the women from Northwest Syria during the group psychosocial support sessions organized by Equity and Empowerment to help women overcome the trauma and its aftermath.
The project also focused on training women affected by the earthquake to develop their skills, which would improve their knowledge and enable them to find jobs either within NGOs or the job market. The project included training 100 women as part of livelihood support, including sessions on resume writing and interview preparation.
Dignity kits for men were also provided as part of the response to the effects of the earthquake.
“Men also have dignity and needs because of the earthquake, and no one asks about them.”
Elderly man said to our team when they were working to survey the needs of women in one of the camps in northwestern Syria. The man suffers from urinary incontinence, lost his entire family in the earthquake, lives in a tent alone, and has osteoporosis that makes it difficult for him to walk to the bathrooms far from his tent.
After enduring years of war, displacement, refuge, and life in camps, with the loss of even the most basic essentials for a decent living, the Kahramanmaraş earthquake added further hardship to their lives.
On February 6, 2023, amidst harsh winter conditions, freezing cold, and heavy rain, two consecutive earthquakes with epicenters in the Kahramanmaraş region, measuring 7.7 and 7.6 on the Richter scale, struck 11 Turkish provinces and several cities in northern Syria along the Turkish border. The earthquakes resulted in thousands of casualties, missing persons, and millions of displaced individuals.
The earthquake’s impact was particularly devastating for women, as it destroyed their homes, tore apart their families, and forced them to relive the ongoing suffering of displacement that has been a part of their lives for years. Many women found themselves in camps or other unsuitable living conditions, which affected their stability and security.
The economic situation, already deteriorated by war, was further strained by the earthquake, adding to the financial burdens and causing some women to lose their jobs, making employment opportunities even harder to secure due to the increased requirements.
There was also a significant need for healthcare, medical attention, and psychosocial support, especially for women who lost loved ones or who suffered physical and psychological injuries.
In response to these overwhelming needs, Equity and Empowerment intervened to provide essential services to Syrian women in Northwest Syria through the “Support for Earthquake-Affected Women in Northwest Syria” project.
Equity and Empowerment launched the project to support earthquake-affected women with the goal of addressing their humanitarian needs in Idlib and its countryside, enhancing their psychological, social, and economic resilience, and improving community cohesion.
The first phase of the project targeted 848 women from Northwest Syria between September 1, 2023, and May 1, 2024.
This project aimed to meet the basic needs of women affected by the earthquake in Northwest Syria by distributing dignity kits, improving reproductive health, and alleviating feelings of grief, loneliness, and loss through psychosocial support activities in safe spaces for women, especially those who lost loved ones. The project also aimed to equip women affected by the earthquake with skills to enhance their knowledge and empower them to find employment either within NGOs or independently in the job market through the creation of their own businesses, thus boosting their self-esteem and sense of worth.
As part of the project, Equity and Empowerment distributed 440 dignity kits to 440 women in Kafr Yahmul, in addition to 408 kits to 408 women in Jisr al-Shughur.
The organization also provided group psychosocial support sessions for 440 women and individual sessions for 80 women, in addition to referring 440 women to the women’s clinic contracted within the project.
“At first, I was just scared after the earthquake, but after months, I felt depressed, like there was no safe place, no desire to live, and sometimes I had thoughts of ending my life. When I started hearing the other women, I realized I wasn’t the only one feeling this way, and then I learned that it’s normal and that it will pass,”
shared one of the women from Northwest Syria during the group psychosocial support sessions organized by Equity and Empowerment to help women overcome the trauma and its aftermath.
The project also focused on training women affected by the earthquake to develop their skills, which would improve their knowledge and enable them to find jobs either within NGOs or the job market. The project included training 100 women as part of livelihood support, including sessions on resume writing and interview preparation.
Dignity kits for men were also provided as part of the response to the effects of the earthquake.
“Men also have dignity and needs because of the earthquake, and no one asks about them.”
Elderly man said to our team when they were working to survey the needs of women in one of the camps in northwestern Syria. The man suffers from urinary incontinence, lost his entire family in the earthquake, lives in a tent alone, and has osteoporosis that makes it difficult for him to walk to the bathrooms far from his tent.
