Turkey earthquake: Community kitchen near epicentre helps provide local dishes for people left homeless
The aftermath of two powerful earthquakes which rocked Turkey and Syria has left many people homeless and exacerbated the risk of a widespread food and nutrition crisis, charities say.
Many were forced to live in cars and temporary tents, with no access to basic amenities such as showers or toilets, after the quake and its aftershocks last month destroyed, or catastrophically damaged, at least 156,000 buildings in Turkey and killed more than 50,000 people across Turkey and Syria.
Charities rushed to provide hot meals, loaves of bread and fresh water.
Among them, Action Against Hunger – which is supported by the Disaster Emergencies Committee – distributed ready-to-eat rations sourced from nearby cities including canned chickpeas, chicken, tuna, vegetables and fruit in disaster hotspots in southeast Turkey. Overall, Action Against Hunger has supplied 2,500kg of dry food and nearly 2,000kg of fresh food.
But while the food baskets are vital in helping survivors keep their strength up and stay healthy, they do not always contain food typically consumed by people in the region.
In the town of Beyoglu, near the southern city of Kahramanmaras and close to the epicentres of the tremors, Action Against Hunger helped set up a kitchen to provide local dishes and fresh food in a community centre next to a football field where people are camping after losing their homes.
The kitchen also helps people rebuild their sense of community in a time of crisis, says Ana Mora Segura, a spokesperson for Action Against Hunger who has been in Turkey since the earthquake struck.
She tells Sky News: “The places people have known their whole lives are either damaged or gone, which is very disruptive, so being able to get together and act on their own to provide for themselves is the first step of rebuilding the community.”
The kitchen has been providing 3,000 people a day with meals containing ingredients typically found in the Mediterranean diet, including fresh foods and local dishes containing oil, olives, yoghurt, fruit, vegetables and grains.
It also provides a sense of reassurance for those still suffering from the disaster.
“For me, this community kitchen provides us with security, because we know we’re getting hot food at a certain time every day and aid on a regular basis,” says one 20-year-old Turkish man who has been staying in the tents and using the kitchen since the earthquake.
“We also feel very safe in the tents because of the security forces in the area.”
Volunteers distribute food to families. Pic: Bradley Secker/DEC
Providing local food gives people sense of normality
While the foods found in a typical relief kit are much appreciated by those affected by the emergency, providing local foods has helped give people a sense of normality, says Cristina Izquierdo, the nutrition and health coordinator for Action Against Hunger’s emergency team.
Read more:
Harrowing pictures of the Turkey-Syria earthquake
Is more aid being sent to Turkey than to Syria?
“These are some of the most resilient people,” she tells Sky News. “Some people bring everything they have to others… That sense of supporting each other really brings hope.
“People are grateful for the fact they are alive and are ready to support their community.”
The community centre also supports displaced people in other ways, through donated clothes, heaters and hygiene items such as sanitary pads, soap, baby wipes and nappies.
Akif left his restaurant in Soke and travelled with his friends to help set up the community kitchen. Pic: Ana Mora Segura/Action Against Hunger
‘I have work to do here’
One of the volunteers in the kitchen is Akif, who, as news of the disaster spread, heard help was needed urgently in Beyoglu, where a large number of houses were destroyed.
Leaving his restaurant in Soke, a city on Turkey’s Aegean coast, he travelled with his friends to help set up the community kitchen.
“My friends tell me to come back home, but my family is safe, that’s why I came,” Akif says. “I have work to do here.”
Akif and other volunteers also prepared packages to distribute in the nearby mountain villages and to families that have stayed near their collapsed homes.
Food aid being distributed by Action Against Hunger. Pics: Bradley Secker/DEC
Rebuilding a sense of community in a time of crisis
Ms Izquierdo says people were “very humble” and initially only asked for rice, but they were then asked about their local diet and the items they would like to see the charity help provide, including fresh food and vegetables, but also products for children such as yoghurt and other dairy products.
A range of dishes have been served, such as Turkish rice with sehriye, a type of pasta similar to vermicelli, and chickpea and tomato soup.
But Action Against Hunger warns the risk of widespread food insecurity has soared in the aftermath of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, with access to food becoming even more difficult than it was before the disaster as many people have lost their homes, jobs and livelihoods. People in Syria also have to contend with the ongoing effects of the country’s 12-year civil war on top of the damage wrought by the earthquake.
The family of a father who disappeared with his three children nearly four years ago in New Zealand have broken their silence to appeal for him to return home.
In December 2021, Tom Phillips vanished into the wilderness with his two daughters and son – but his family have said they still remain hopeful “today will be the day you all come home”.
Phillips, along with Jayda, now aged 12, Maverick, 10, and Ember, nine, were last believed to have been seen in a “credible sighting” last October hiking through a bush area near Marokopa on the country’s North Island.
For the first time, his family have directly appealed to Phillips in the hope that “just maybe, he’s going to see this” and “that we are here for him”.
In an interview with New Zealand journalist Paddy Gower, his sister Rozzi Phillips said she missed being part of her brother’s life, adding “I really want to see you” and “you’re very special to me”.
She also read out a handwritten message from Phillips’ mother, Julia, which came from her “heart, just to her son”.
“Tom, I feel really sad that you thought you had to do this, not considering how much we love you and could support you,” she said.
“It hurts every time I see photos of the children and of you and see some of your stuff that is still here, thinking what could have been if you’d not gone away.”
Tom Phillips. Pic: New Zealand Police
According to New Zealand news site, Stuff, the letter ended with a message for the three children.
“We love you so much and really miss being part of your lives,” it read.
“Every day we wake up and hope that today will be the day you all come home.”
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Ms Phillips said her brother is a skilled builder and would have constructed a shelter.
Police believe his actions could be linked to a custody battle.
There have been numerous reported sightings since December 2021.
The most recent last October was said to be from a distance when the group were seen wearing camouflage gear and carrying large camping backpacks.
Israel will call up 60,000 reservists as it prepares to launch an expanded military operation in Gaza City.
The military said the country’s defence minister Israel Katz has approved plans to begin a new phase of operations in some of the most densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces will operate in areas of Gaza City where they have not yet operated and where it believes Hamas is still active, a military official said.
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Israel must have ‘security control’ to end Gaza war, Netanyahu says
The city is the main military and governing stronghold of Hamas and Israeli troops will target the group’s vast underground network, the official added.
Although Israel has targeted and killed much of Hamas’ senior leadership, parts of the group are actively regrouping and carrying out attacks, including launching rockets towards Israel, the official said.
It remains unclear when the operation will begin, but it could be a matter of days.
Palestinians at the site of a house struck by Israel in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
The official said 60,000 reservists will be called up in the coming month and the service of an additional 20,000 reservists currently serving will be lengthened.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the objectives of the war are to secure the release of the remaining hostages and destroy Hamas.
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Gaza hospitals ‘overwhelmed with malnutrition cases’
International criticism of Israel increased after the planned offensive was announced earlier this month amid fears of another mass displacement of Palestinians.
The families of the hostages and former army and intelligence chiefs oppose an expanded operation in Gaza City, with most of the families of hostages wanting an immediate ceasefire.
They worry an expanded assault could threaten prospects of bringing the 50 remaining hostages home. Israel believes 20 of those are still alive.
Read more:
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Parachutes drop aid supplies in Gaza. Pic: AP
Palestinians rush to collect airdropped humanitarian aid packages. Pic: AP
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 251.
Many of the hostages have been released in ceasefires and other deals, with Hamas saying it will only free the remainder in exchange of a lasting ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal.
More than 62,000 people have been killed during Israel’s 22-month counteroffensive, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up around half of those killed.
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Earlier this week, the ministry said 154 adults had died of malnutrition-related causes since the ministry began counting such deaths in late June, and 112 children have died of malnutrition-related causes since the war began.
Thousands have fled parts of Gaza City in recent days amid airstrikes and advancing Israeli troops, new satellite imagery shows.
Israel’s advance comes as it prepares to mount a full-scale invasion of the city, where the UN says around one million Palestinians are sheltering.
Satellite imagery shows that entire tent camps in southeast Gaza City were emptied between 9 and 17 August as families fled the renewed attacks.
The video below shows the moment of an airstrike in southeastern Gaza City on 13 August. Sky News geolocated the footage to a building less than 200 metres from a major tent camp.
Another video, taken on 15 August, shows a strike on a building right next to the camp.
By the following day, almost all the camp’s residents had fled, along with people sheltering at 30 other locations in the area.
Fresh vehicle tracks in the area indicate extensive troop movements on the ground.
The satellite image below, taken on 17 August, shows at least nine military vehicles in the streets surrounding one former tent camp.
Sky News counted 58 military vehicles in the area on 17 August, including 17 bulldozers.
The image below shows four IDF vehicles, including a bulldozer, parked next to the remains of one tent camp. Several nearby buildings had been levelled in the days beforehand.
Between 9 and 17 August, at least 132 buildings were destroyed in less than one square kilometre of the city.
It’s unclear how much of the destruction was carried out by IDF bulldozers and how much was a result of airstrikes.
On Monday, eyewitnesses reported that Israeli tanks had made further advances into eastern Gaza City.
The advances came as Hamas said it had approved a ceasefire deal presented by mediators Egypt and Qatar. Israel has yet to respond to the proposal.
Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed his country’s military to prepare for a full-scale invasion and occupation of the city in order to “free Gaza from Hamas”.
The UN has said that the invasion risks “catastrophic consequences” for the estimated one million Palestinians sheltering in the city, while UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the plan would “only bring more bloodshed”.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
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