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EARTHQUAKE: Oxfam and partners aim to reach nearly 2 million affected people in Turkiye and Syria

Oxfam, together with our partners in Turkiye (Turkey) and Syria, is working to reach nearly 2 million people – 10 percent of the population affected by the quake – with aid and support so that they can rebuild their lives. 

Meryem Aslan, Oxfam Spokeswoman in Turkiye said: “People are living in cars, mosques, in tents or huddling around fires in freezing conditions. Emergency shelters are overwhelmed and over-crowded. Many people do not want to stay in the area with hundreds of thousands having been evacuated out of the region.”

In Turkiye, Oxfam KEDV is working closely with dozens of grassroot women-led organisations and cooperatives to reach up to 1.5 million people over the first three years. Our teams have already provided food, shelter, blankets and psychological support to some of most affected areas including Gaziantep, Hatay and Mardin.

“Our teams are experienced, having responded to the 1999 earthquake, but we are facing new hurdles getting aid to those who need it.  We are dealing with destroyed roads, nearly 300 aftershocks and an unprecedented scale of devastation. The sheer number of fatalities is heart-breaking. Topping the list of items needed are body bags to bury the dead. In some areas, communication is also limited which is hampering aid distribution,” added Aslan.

The earthquake has impacted over 13 million people in Turkiye – one in every six people. Over 12,000 buildings have been destroyed and many more are threatening to crumble.

Ali, a father of four from Gaziantep, told us, “We were shaking and we were so scared. I thought this was my last day. When I looked at the walls, I felt like they were moving towards me.”

He added, “It was such a bitter day. I hope we never experience this ever again.”

In Hatay, a city affected by the earthquake, only three hospitals remain standing. It is imagined that the earthquake response will take a year in Turkiye, but the after-effects will be felt for many more years to come.

In Syria, the earthquake has caused over 3500 deaths and many more injured.

Abdelkader Dabbagh, Aleppo Area Manager for Oxfam in Syria said: “The earthquake has shattered an already conflict-torn country. People do not have a roof over their heads and are stuck in freezing temperatures with no idea where they could get their next meal. Our team is working with other humanitarian organisations to get clean drinking water and hygiene packs to survivors.”

We already started providing safe drinking water to people in Aleppo. We have also supported safety checks to 220 buildings and begun fixing water taps and toilets for over 1000 of the most impacted people. Over the next six months, Oxfam aims to reach more than 300,000 survivors.

Moutaz Adham, Oxfam in Syria Country Director, said: “This is nothing new for Syrians who have lived and are still living the horrors of over twelve years of conflict. To make matters worse, we are still facing an uphill battle due to years of chronic underfunding, skyrocketing inflation, and scarce supplies of fuel.”

Oxfam calls on the international community to meet the urgent needs of those affected by the earthquake in Turkiye and Syria, and to facilitate aid delivery to both countries along with a longer-term plan to support the survivors in the recovery efforts. 

 

Notes

Oxfam KEDV was founded in 1986 and became an Oxfam affiliate in 2019. Previous to the earthquake, Oxfam KEDV was working with 78 grassroot women organisations and cooperatives in the affected areas and 600 throughout Turkey. We will work with these partners in our humanitarian response to the earthquake.

Oxfam KEDV is also a member to the National Disaster Response Platform, a network formed in 2020 representing 27 national civil CSOs, which coordinates disaster and emergency responses in Turkiye. All NGOs registered with this platform must register with the Acik Acik Association which is responsible for ensuring the transparency and accountability of NGOS.

In Syria, Oxfam has been on the scene since 2013. We get clean water to people affected by the conflict. We distributed cash and food. We also work with people to rebuild their lives including supporting farmers to start farming again through trainings and distribution of seeds and animal fodder as well as repairing irrigation systems. 

Data on the death toll in Syria was sourced from AFP via the BBC.

Biofuel Obligation bill scrapped by Government

In reaction to the recent announcement that the Sustainable Biofuels Obligation Bill has been dropped by the Government Nicky Henry, Climate Justice Lead at Oxfam Aotearoa said:

“Oxfam is delighted that the government listened to the advice and scientific evidence that biofuels mandates are harmful as they take food and land away from people.

“This is a win for us all, but especially for the farmers, families, and communities we work with across the Pacific and beyond. We know that there are better ways we can reduce emissions and we look forward to seeing the government step up in other areas. Oxfam calls the government to urgently invest in better public transport, electric cars, and to price agriculture emissions properly.”

/ENDS

Notes:

The bill was before the Environment Select Committee who heard oral submissions about it on 1 February 2023. Citizen-powered environmental and global justice groups including Don’t Burn Our Future, Oxfam Aotearoa, 350.org, Environment and Conservation Organisations Aotearoa, Climate Justice Taranaki, the National Women’s Council and the Vegan Society opposed this bill in their submissions. Fossil fuel companies including BP, Mobil and Gull were supportive of it.

Donor pledges must end hunger in Syria

In reaction to the pledges made today at the Brussels conference on Syria, Oxfam in Syria Country Director, Moutaz Adham, said:  

“The pledges made today are welcomed and show that the international community has not forgotten Syrians.

“However, donor’s priorities do not reflect the situation in Syria. For over a decade, there has been too much focus on emergency aid with limited focus on long term solutions to problems like lack of food and water. What the Syrian people need is schools and hospitals, homes that can stand and are cleared of rubble and old bombs, and jobs, so they can feed their families and stop relying on aid. Humanitarian agencies haven’t been able to provide for the long term needs of Syrians due to political considerations. These politics are denying Syrians a future and causing more Syrians to mire in poverty.

“Syrians have never been so hungry – 3 in 5 people do not know where their next meal will come from. One month’s living costs equals two months’ salary. The war in Ukraine will only increase hunger and poverty.

“Last year, donors only gave half the money needed to help people in Syria. Syrians cannot afford for this to happen yet again this year. Donors need to think long-term. Short-term solutions are not good enough.”

Notes to the editors 

“Before we feared dying of war, now we fear dying of hunger”: Ukraine crisis propelling hunger in Syria

Eleven years after the Syrian conflict began, six in ten Syrians do not know where their next meal is coming from, said Oxfam today. It warned that reliance on imports from Russia means the current crisis in Europe could ripple into Syria, exacerbating food shortages and causing food prices to soar. In the last year, food prices in Syria have doubled.

Oxfam spoke to 300 Syrians in government-held areas of the country. Nearly 90 percent said they could only afford to eat bread, rice and, occasionally, some vegetables. After ten years of conflict, the shockwaves of Covid-19, and the Lebanese banking crisis coupled with the Ukrainian crisis are having serious repercussions for the floundering economy, disrupting food and fuel imports and causing the Syrian pound to plummet at breakneck speed.

Moutaz Adham, Country Director for Oxfam in Syria, said: “People have been pushed to the brink by a collapsing economy. Around Damascus, people queue for hours to get subsidised bread at state bakeries, while young children rifle through garbage trying to find scraps of food. Struggling to put food on the table means many families are turning to extreme ways to cope: going into debt to buy food, taking children out of school to work and reducing the number of meals each day. Marrying off young daughters has become another negative coping strategy as it is one less mouth to feed. This is against a backdrop of 90 percent of Syrians living in poverty, unemployment rate at 60 percent and a monthly minimum wage in the public sector of approximately 26 US dollars.”

He added: “Syria relies heavily on Russia for imports of wheat. The crisis in Ukraine has seen the Syrian government starting to ration food reserves, including wheat, sugar, oil, and rice amid fears of shortages and price surges, and this could be just the beginning.”

Hala from Deir-ez-Zor told Oxfam: “It makes no sense for us to think about tomorrow, if we cannot even figure out what to put on our table today to feed our children.”

Majed from Rural Damascus told Oxfam: “I work 13 hours a day to feed my children, but it doesn’t seem to be enough. Sometimes I wish there is more than 24 hours a day, so I can do more work. I’m exhausted and don’t know how I will survive this harsh life with my family.”

Moutaz Adham added: “An average income only covers half of basic expenses.”

 

Notes:

Oxfam has been working in Syria since 2013 to provide humanitarian assistance to those affected by the conflict. In the last year, Oxfam’s work reached 1.2 million people. We provide clean drinking water to people, emergency cash assistance, and soap, hygiene and other materials. We help farmers get back to farming, and bakers back to baking. We run Covid-19 awareness raising campaigns. Oxfam is calling on international donors to focus on funding early recovery and social protection while also keep focusing on emergency needs and responses, including hunger response activities to save lives now.

12.4 million people in Syria are food insecure, child labour occurs in 84% of communities and child marriage for adolescent girls in 71% of communities, according to the latest figures from the Humanitarian Needs Overview. 

The price of the World Food Program (WFP) standard food basket (a group of essential food items) has increased by 97% in the past year. 

Last year, the Syrian government reportedly had to import 1.5 million tons of wheat, mainly from Russia.

As part of its Emergency and Food Security response, Oxfam interviewed 300 beneficiaries in government held areas of Aleppo, Deir-ez-Zor and Rural Damascus governorates, 100 beneficiaries in each governorate and found that 88 percent eat only bread, rice and occasionally vegetables. Additionally, 60 percent of people Oxfam spoke to say they earn less than what they need to cover their food needs. 10 percent said they rely only on bread and tea to survive. Since subsidised bread provides approximately 840 kcal per day, this amounts to only 40 percent of calories needed to survive (an average family of 5 can buy 12 bundles of subsidised bread, each consisting of 7 loaves, this leaves 2.4 loaves per person per day, having no more than 350 kcal). Strikingly, only 1.5 percent said they can afford to buy meat and only on rare occasions.

Contact details:

David Bull | Oxfam Aotearoa | [email protected] | mobile +64 274179724

Syria marks 10 years of conflict

Are Syria’s broken people being forgotten after 10 years of conflict?

Ten years on, the Syrian conflict continues to cause misery for the millions who have fled and those who are still trapped inside the country. Along with the Council for International Development, 12 New Zealand aid agencies are thankful for caring Kiwis who have supported their work among Syrian refugees and for New Zealand Government funding but are urging the government to remember those who continue to suffer.

In February, the UN reported a funding gap of 9.81 billion US dollars to meet the needs of suffering Syrians. This shows the scale of the continuing humanitarian need and the economic cost of 10 years of conflict in Syria has been put at 1.2 trillion USD. At $US19.4 billion, humanitarian aid to Syria over that time has been just 1.6 per cent of that amount.

New Zealand aid agencies are grateful for the New Zealand Government funding they received that supported their work among refugees up until May 2017. However, with no diplomatic end in sight for the devastated country, New Zealand aid agencies are asking the New Zealand Government not to abandon the people of Syria and release more much-needed funding so that they can carry on supporting Syrian refugees. 

CEO of Tearfund NZ, Ian McInnes says, “On the 10th year of Syria’s war, we collectively urge the New Zealand Government and the International Community to continue investing in long-term solutions for Syrian children so that the past decade does not define their future. Aid remains a lifeline for all war-affected Syrians who are still struggling to access critical services including health, nutrition, education and protection.” 

National Director of World Vision NZ, Grant Bayldon says, “As the war has gone on, the suffering of the people has increasingly been forgotten. As funds have dried up, so has the help that many Syrian families need to make it through.” 

Executive Director of Oxfam NZ, Rachael Le Mesurier says, “With the ongoing impact of Covid-19, escalating climate change and a global economic recession, aid agencies face some tough decisions but this is not the time to lose focus on Syria. We urge the New Zealand Government to renew its efforts to influence world leaders to find a political solution that could bring this conflict to an end and make further financial aid available to New Zealand aid agencies to help Syrian families and communities traumatised by ten years of war.”  

CEO of UNICEF NZ, Michelle Sharp says, the decade-long war in Syria has had an unimaginable toll on children. “Today, more than six million children need assistance, half a million are chronically malnourished, and in the last year alone, the reported number of children in psychological distress has doubled. Every child has the right to safety and we must urgently reimagine a better world for Syrian children.”

CEO of Save the Children NZ, Heidi Coetzee, says the children of Syrian are paying the ultimate price of this deadly and prolonged conflict.  We call on political leaders to urgently bring about a peaceful resolution to this conflict that has gone on 10 years too long.

Key Stats

  • Over 5.5 million Syrians live as refugees in the region. More than six million Syrians are displaced within the country.
  • Approximately one in four people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee. (About 1.5m refugees)
  • More than half of Syria’s infrastructure has been destroyed
  • Though Syria accounts for less than one per cent of the world’s population, its people make up nearly one-third of refugees worldwide.
  • Approximately 50 per cent of all registered Syrian refugees are under the age of 18 and millions have grown up knowing nothing but conflict.

Covid-19 cases (15-03-2021)

  • Syria: 16,401 cases 1094 deaths
  • Lebanon: 415,000, cases 5,334 deaths

The 12 Council for International Development affiliated aid agencies are: ADRA, Anglican Missions, Caritas, CBM, CWS, Hagar, International Needs, Oxfam, Save the Children NZ, Tearfund, UNICEF and World Vision.

/ Ends

Media Contacts:
Helen Manson
[email protected]
022 5861567

Gabriel Thomas
[email protected]
+6421360098

Two Oxfam workers killed in attack in Syria

Oxfam condemns killing two of its workers in attack in Syria

Two Oxfam aid workers were today killed in an attack at 2pm local time in Dar’a governorate in Southern Syria, between Nawa and Al-Yadudah.

Wissam Hazim, Southern Hub Staff Safety Officer and Adel Al-Halabi, a driver, were both killed when their vehicle was attacked by a so-far unidentified armed group.  An Oxfam volunteer was also injured.

Oxfam paid tribute to the workers, condemned the attack and called on all sides to ensure the safety of staff delivering lifesaving aid to civilians caught in the conflict.

Moutaz Adham, Oxfam Syria Country Director, said: “We are devastated by the loss of two valued colleagues who were killed as they worked to deliver aid to civilians caught in the Syrian conflict. Our love and thoughts are with their families.

“We condemn the attack in the strongest possible terms. It is essential that aid workers are able to get lifesaving assistance to civilians without being attacked themselves.”

Notes to editors:

  • Wissam Hazim had worked for Oxfam since May 2017. Adel Al-Halabi joined Oxfam in January 2017. Both were Syrian nationals.
  • Last year Oxfam in Syria helped over 1.2million people with aid including clean water, cash, essential clothing items, and support to help make a living and grow nutritious food.

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Oxfam is a worldwide development organisation that mobilises the power of people against injustice. Oxfam Aotearoa is a registered charity with the New Zealand Charities Register (registration CC24641). Donations are tax refundable.

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