After nearly 12 years of conflict, and an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude that hit its foundation, Syria remains a complex humanitarian and protection emergency characterized by ongoing hostilities and their long-term consequences, including widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, economic collapse, explosive ordnance contamination, Covid 19, and one of the largest number of internally displaced people in the world.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8, with at least 1,200 aftershocks have been reported, followed by a second earthquake of 7.5 magnitude, at a depth of 17.925 km (11.14 miles) has occurred at Central Turkey near the city of Gaziantep, as reported by the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) of the USGS on February 06, 2023, 01:41:15 UTC.

Analysis indicates that this is a very strong earthquake. Widespread building collapse has been reported in southeast Turkey and northern Syria. The earthquake was also felt across Lebanon, Cyprus and the region while it is expected that aftershocks which may be at the same intensity as the initial earthquake will be felt for weeks.

There have been more than 23,000 deaths reported as at the 11^th of February between Turkey and Syria, with 14,014 in Turkey and 4,377 in Syria, and almost 7,700 people injured in Syria. With thousands of collapsed buildings, (around 1,765 totally destroyed and 5,571 partially destroyed , in addition to 115 schools were destroyed in Aleppo, Hama, and Lattakia cities ).  Many people remain trapped under the debris of collapsed buildings, rescue and search are fearing its too late finding anyone alive under the rubble. Flooding has been reported in displacement camps due to inclement winter weather.

The Syrian population was already deeply affected by the ongoing war and the economic collapse of the country and now, many people must deal with being displaced, losing their livelihood, and fighting the harsh winter conditions.

ACT Syria Forum members CA, GOPA-DERD, HEKS/EPER, LWF and MECC will respond to the protracted crisis and the earthquake with an appeal to raise 11,166,997 USD over two years, to respond to the needs of the Affected Communities of Syria-Türkiye Earthquake and to improve the resilience of the crisis-affected populations in Syria. (Total income as of 13/2/2023: 356,305 USD and the Balance requested: 10,810,692 USD).

SYR231 – Protracted Crisis-Earthquake Response

Results-Framework SYR231- Revision1

On October 30, the NDRRMC recommended to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to declare a one-year state of national calamity after STS Nalgae battered almost the whole country and left 162 fatalities and caused gargantuan damage to infrastructures and livelihoods. However, the current administration has only issued the proposed proclamation for four regions (Regions 4A, 5, 6 and BARMM) with more than 1.4 million residents. Pre-emptively, the government evacuated over 356,000 persons but currently almost 349,000 persons are still displaced.
As the climate negotiations is currently taking place, the Philippines is living with massive loss and damage. STS Nalgae alone damaged 64,209 houses of which 57,888 are partially damaged while 6,361 are unliveable. While the damage to infrastructure and agriculture marks a skyrocketing cost of Php 12 billion particularly affecting 146,927 farmers and fisherfolk[1]. This is on top of the already huge loss and damage caused by the recent Typhoon Karding, some in the same areas hit by STS Nalgae. Relief efforts from the government, NGOs and other stakeholders have undertaken but much effort is needed to contribute to the recovery of the most vulnerable population affected by these climate-induced weather events.

According to the Joint Rapid Needs Assessment conducted by BARMM government partners and the MHT, the priority humanitarian needs include food, WASH and NFIs including hygiene kits, sleeping kits and kitchen/cooking sets. Most of the water sources are either destroyed or contaminated which is further damaging the health as toilets have been submerged or destroyed by floods.

To Respond to the urgent needs of the affected people the National Council of Churches Philippines designed a 4 months response project which will provide relief assistance to 2,100 families or 10,500 persons from the priority areas in the regions of Cagayan Valley, Bicol and Panay Island. In coordination with the local churches, ecumenical partners and authorities in the target areas, the following activities will be undertaken within the next four months:

1. Provision of multi-purpose cash assistance to 1200 families
2. Distribution of food assistance to 900 families
3. Distribution of hygiene and sanitation kits to 2100 families

RRF 01 2023 Philippines Typhoon Nalgae

After nearly 12 years of conflict, Syria remains a complex humanitarian and protection emergency characterized by ongoing hostilities and their long-term consequences, including widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, economic collapse, explosive ordnance contamination and one of the largest number of internally displaced people in the world. In many ways, the humanitarian needs across the whole of Syria are currently at their highest since the start of the conflict, and households are reverting to negative coping mechanisms more frequently than before. This includes child labour, child marriage, sale of productive assets, and borrowing, all of which increase protection needs and/or reduce households’ capacity for self-sustenance in the future. As household resilience decreases, humanitarian needs increase.

ACT Syria Forum members CA, GOPA-DERD, HEKS/EPER and MECC will respond to the protracted crisis with an appeal to raise 5,115,528 USD over two years, to improve the resilience of the crisis-affected populations in Syria.

SYR231 – Syria Protracted Crisis

Results-Framework – SYR231

Clashes across the Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan border, in the Bulak-Bashi area of the Batken region (Kyrgyzstan) erupted on 14 September 2022 between the troops of Kyrgyzstan and of Tajikistan, which escalated into an International Armed Conflict, each accusing one another of using tanks, mortars, rocket artillery and assault drones to attack the outpost.

A state of emergency was declared on 16 September 2022 in the Batken region of Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan share 984 km of border, 30% of which is still disputed and leads to tensions due to lack of access to water, roads and pastures and nearby settlements.

The surroundings of Batken airport and objects on the outskirts of the city were also shelled. As per official data, the total death toll was 39 and 135 people were injured on the Tajik side, 59 people were killed, among them women and children and more than 100 were injured on the Kyrgyz side. Over 140 thousand civilians evacuated the conflict zone to the safer region (Kadamjai and Razzakov cities) of Batken and have become IDPs.

At this moment Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan has signed peace memorandum. In mid-october Kyrgyz delegation visited in Dushanbe, Tajikistan to discuss further delimitation and demarcation process. Two sides plan to revise archive documents and maps from the Soviet time. Recently, the Defence Minister of Kyrgyzstan declared that Kyrgyzstan will not give up even 1 cm of its land, but ready to resolve the issue peacefully, unless the sovereignty and inviolability of borders are kept. It is observed that both sides are upgrading their military capacities. The situation is tense, and risk of future conflicts is high.

ACT Europe Forum through Hungarian Interchurch Aid seek to provide humanitarian assistance to affected families. This proposal is in compliance with the criteria for an exceptional circumstance where (a) There are no ACT national members present in Kyrgyztan and (b) Funding is allocated to an international member with an additional objective to provide capacity to support to an ACT national member or local partner.  This response will be implemented by Hungarian Interchurch Aid’s local partner, Insan Leilek Public Foundation. To that end, an RRF of 124,866USD has been approved.

RRF 19 2022 HIA Batken Border Clashes Response

Four years after the end of large-scale military operations against ISIL, the humanitarian context in Iraq remains fragile. Prone to political instability, violence, corruption, armed conflict and natural disasters, Iraq is an anomaly of an upper middle-income country at “very high risk” and requiring international assistance. Protracted displacement has come to characterize the post-conflict environment, with eroded national social cohesion, extensive explosive ordnance contamination, and incomplete rehabilitation of housing, basic services and livelihoods opportunities. About 1.2 million people remain internally displaced, more than 90 per cent of whom fled their areas of origin more than four years ago. Protracted displacement is expected to continue over the next few years. Barriers to return, local integration or resettlement remain significant.

Climate change is a growing threat in Iraq. According to the UNEP (2022), Iraq has been ranked at the 5th most affected country by climate change in the world. Temperatures are soaring to new extremes as degrees above 50°C are becoming common, compounding the situation further into a complex humanitarian crisis. Water scarcity is forecasted to significantly impact this season’s crop production, which could further impact people’s livelihoods and food security status as well as increase the risk of cholera or other diseases. Climate-induced migration has already been witnessed in the worst-hit parts of the country.

ACT Iraq Forum members LWF and HIA will respond to the protracted crisis with an appeal to raise USD3,104,757 over two years, to improve access to durable solutions to the crisis-affected populations (IDPs, refugees, returnees and host communities) in Iraq.

IRQ231 Protracted Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq

IRQ231 – Results Framework

RRF 20 2022 Indonesia Cianjur Earthquake

As of October 2022, the Government of El Salvador declared a state of emergency due to the severity of the damages caused by hurricane Julia, including overflow, landslides, floods, landslides, flooding, destruction of houses, loss of crops, material damage, and deaths. According to authorities, at least 23,500 families were affected, 5,172 people were evacuated to temporary shelters, 11 people died and around 469 houses were
damaged.

In response to the disaster, the ACT Forum El Salvador, through its members ALFALIT and SLS, has submitted a proposal for 150.000 USD, seeking to provide emergency response to 730 households and 2,855 people in the sectors of CASH/Vouchers and Psychosocial support. 

RFF 17 2022 Hurricane Julia El Salvador

In the early hours of September 13, 2022, the Azerbaijani military forces launched a large-scale coordinated attack against the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia targeting the borderline communities in the regions of Gegharkunik, Vayots Dzor and Syunik of Armenia. The Azerbaijani armed forces used different weapons, including heavy artillery, mortars of various calibres, UAVs, and large-calibre guns.

The emergency is small scale, however, there is a concern for a large-scale offensive.

The primary geographical focus of the attack is 3 regions of Armenia (Gegharkunik, Vayots Dzor and Syunik) including the cities and villages of Kapan, Goris, Jermuk, Vardenis, Sotk, Norabak, Kut, Geghamasar and other borderline communities. According to the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, by the beginning of the 2020 year population in these 3 regions are as follows։ Gegharkunik region – a total of 222.7 thousand persons (66.6 urban and 161.1 rural), Vayots Dzor region – a total of 48.5 thousand persons (48.5 urban and 31.4 rural), Syunik region – total 137.3 thousand persons (93.2 urban and 44.1 rural).

ACT Armenia Forum through the Armenian Round Table seek to provide humanitarian assistance to 187 affected families for winter heating costs from November 2022 to January 2023 To that end, an RRF of 51,182USD has been approved.

RRF 18 2022 Armenia Conflict

On October 8, the Nicaraguan government started meteorological monitoring through the Nicaraguan Territorial Studies Institute (INETER) and issued a yellow alert. According to INETER, hurricane Julia hit Nicaragua with rainfalls between 200mm to 250mm have saturated soils, and wrought havoc across the country, especially in the North and South autonomous regions, where indigenous populations are still recovering from the 2020 hurricane season. The Hurricane has affected communities and populations throughout the national territory, especially in the centre, west, and south of the country. About a million people are left without power and heavy rains and floods forced the evacuations of more than 13,000 families, while some 31,170 people lack access to drinking water. The central government has begun to respond at the level of urban areas and in shelters that were set up.

The Centro Interclecial de Estudios Teológicos y Sociales (CIEETS), the Consejo de Iglesias Pro Alianza Denominacinal (CEPAD), and the Iglesia Luterana Fe y Esperanza (ILFE), members of the ACT Forum Nicargua, seek to provide humanitarian assistance to 755 affected families from November 2022 to February 2023 in three sectors: Food security, Shelter and household item and WASH. To that end, a RRF of 151,148USD has been approved.

RRF 16 2022 Nicaragua Hurricane Julia