Andreea Afumateanu is used to working in difficult and dangerous situations. As a captain in the United Nations Department of Peace Operations, she was involved in peacekeeping operations in South Sudan as well as India and Pakistan. But in her role as United Nations Health Coordinator/Hub Coordinator in Gaziantep, Türkiye, the epicentre of the 7.7-magnitude earthquake on 6 February, the situation has felt quite different.
“In Sudan, India and Pakistan, the fear you felt was a kind that you could manage, because you knew what the next day would bring, and for how long you would be exposed to risk. And, in the end, you knew that you would return to a safe space. Here, however, wherever you stay – and it doesn’t matter whether you’re staying in a hotel or a tent – you are exposed to risk all the time, just because you are in this place.”
Normally, Andreea works as a clinic manager in Bucharest, Romania, but in her very first week of deployment in Türkiye, she experienced what it feels like to be caught in an earthquake.
“We arrived in Gaziantep on 20 February and went to our hotel. The same day, while I was in my room, the building started to shake. My first thought was, ‘Maybe I don't feel well.’ And then I touched the wall – it was moving, and I realized it was an earthquake. I went downstairs to join my colleague. All around me people were moving, holding their shoes in their hands. Many people were screaming.”
Andreea tells us how this third earthquake to hit the area within the space of a couple of weeks exacerbated the anxiety and mental health effects that survivors are dealing with.
“People don’t trust their surroundings anymore and are scared. They need mental health support because of the many things they have experienced and the many, many things they have lost – loved ones, their homes, their cars – and now they are living in tents, in such abnormal circumstances.”
Since the earthquakes began, 3.3 million people have been displaced within or outside of the affected areas, while 2.4 million people are living in tents or temporary shelters. Overall, an estimated 15 million people are believed to have been affected one way or another by the disaster.
Despite the mammoth recovery task, Andreea has been impressed by the response from the Turkish authorities and the international community to support the affected populations. Containers are now being provided to replace the tents and to give more secure and hygienic accommodation while homes are being rebuilt.
“The Ministry of Health is doing great work in mobilizing thousands of medical staff, while our job is to complement their projects with technical support and to help coordinate all the response efforts and identify what needs to be done,” Andreea tells us. “Our combined priority has to be keeping the population safe by ensuring high standards of hygiene for people staying in temporary accommodation, and making sure people have reliable access to food and water.”
During her time in Türkiye, Andreea has also met many of the international emergency medical teams (EMTs) that have been deployed to the region to support the severely disrupted Turkish health system. With 28 health facilities heavily damaged by the earthquakes, 82 partially damaged, and hospitals still dealing with such large numbers of casualties, their support has proven invaluable.
“I met doctors from the Azerbaijani Army in Kahramanmaraş, the epicentre of the second earthquake, who were working together with an EMT from the United Kingdom under the coordination of the EMT Coordination Cell provided by WHO in Adana. They have done an amazing job, and they show how collaboration and solidarity with the Turkish people have been a major feature of this response.”
Andreea has also been impressed by the Turkish people. “I can see their willingness to overcome this disaster, to go forward, to rebuild their lives. No matter their age or if they’re just kids, there is a feeling of incredible resilience. It amazes me that they have this strength to keep going.”
Nearly a month after arriving in Türkiye, Andreea now feels it is time to return to her home in Romania. “Even when I’m sleeping, I dream about earthquakes, so I think it’s time I took a break. But, of course, I’ll be happy to return to Gaziantep if I’m needed.”
WHO and the Türkiye earthquake emergency
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge both visited Türkiye at the end of February to discuss the ongoing response. They met with Türkiye's Minister of Health, the national disaster response organization AFAD, national and international health workers, and others affected by the earthquakes.
During their visit, they expressed WHO’s solidarity with and condolences to the people of Türkiye, confirmed the Organization’s continued support, and gave recognition to the people’s resilience – especially that of health workers.
As part of its response, WHO has:
- initiated the largest deployment of EMTs to a disaster zone in the WHO European Region in its 75-year history, with teams integrated into the ongoing health response to provide critical emergency care, surgeries and access to primary-care services while strengthening national capacities for preparedness and response (EMTs have so far carried out over 50 000 medical consultations in the most affected areas);
- provided psychological first-aid training to 563 staff of the Turkish Ministry of Health and 913 staff of the Ministry of Family and Social Services, and promoted the mental well-being of health-care workers themselves by providing support to 785 psychosocial staff from both ministries;
- produced health messages in collaboration with the Health Promotion Department of the Ministry of Health and with support from the WHO Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) team;
- dispatched around 23 000 metric tonnes of vital health supplies, as well as laboratory reagents and treatments for scabies and lice;
- launched a US$ 84.57 million flash appeal for the earthquake response in Türkiye and the whole of Syria, calling on the global community to provide support and hope to those who are grieving, traumatized and fearful about the future; and
- released US$ 16 million from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies.