The Elderly in the Post-February 6 Earthquake Region: Current Situation, Needs, and Recommendations
Faruk Taşcı, Osman Zeki GökçeOn February 6, 2023, Turkey experienced a disaster resulting from two major earthquakes centered in Maraş, in which over 50,000 individuals died and thousands were injured. Affecting 11 provinces and nearly 15 million people in total, these earthquakes created many disadvantaged groups among the survivors, and one of these groups is the elderly population. Although there are already many social policies for the elderly, one of the most vulnerable and least adaptable groups, the question of where these social policies will evolve to or how they should evolve after the earthquake becomes of great important. The general purpose of this study was to present some findings on the demographic structure, household type and income status of the elderly population using data from the Turkish Statistical Institute. Such results could inform policies that can be adopted after the earthquake for the elderly population living in the earthquake region covering 11 provinces.
6 Şubat Sonrası Deprem Bölgesinde Yaşlılar: Mevcut Durum, İhtiyaçlar ve Öneriler
Faruk Taşcı, Osman Zeki GökçeTürkiye 6 Şubat 2023 günü 50 binden fazla vatandaşımızın hayatını kaybettiği ve binlercesinin de yaralandığı Maraş merkezli iki büyük deprem sonucu büyük bir felaket yaşadı. 11 ili ve toplamda 15 milyona yakın kişiyi etkileyen bu depremlerde hayatta kalanların içinde birçok dezavantajlı grup bulunmakta ve bu gruplardan birini de yaşlı nüfus oluşturmaktadır. Kırılgan/duyarlı ve adaptasyonu en düşük kesimlerden biri olan yaşlılara yönelik birçok sosyal politika uygulamaları halihazırda söz konusu olmakla birlikte deprem sonrasında bu sosyal politikaların nereye evirileceği veya nasıl olması gerektiği hususu daha önemli hale gelmektedir. Bu çalışmanın genel amacı, 11 ili kapsayan deprem bölgesinde yaşayan yaşlı nüfusa yönelik deprem sonrası uygulamaya konabilecek politikalar hakkında yön göstereceğini düşündüğümüz yaşlı nüfusun demografik yapısı, hane halkı tipi ve gelir durumuyla ilgili birtakım bulguları Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu (TÜİK) verilerini kullanarak ortaya koymaktır.
On February 6, 2023, Turkey experienced two major earthquakes centered in Maraş, and on February 20, another major earthquake centered in Hatay occurred. As a result, more than 50,000 deaths and thousands of injuries were reported by official authorities. Among the survivors of the earthquakes, which affected 11 provinces and nearly 15 million people in total, there were many members of disadvantaged groups, one of which is the elderly.
In the 13th World Earthquake Conference in Canada in 2004, the elderly was mentioned as one of the most vulnerable/sensitive and least adaptable groups in the aftermath of disasters (Akyıldız et al., 2018). This is supported by the fact that 70% of the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the USA in 2005 were elderly, although only 16% of the population was elderly, or that 56% of the victims of the 2011 Thoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan were elderly (Güden & Borlu, 2023). As can be expected, elderly individuals have many handicaps due to chronic diseases or disabilities, which make their daily lives difficult. Almost half of the elderly carry out their daily life activities in a limited way (Arpacı, 2005, p. 18) and, therefore, may be dependent on assistance, medication, or care. This creates more vulnerability for the elderly population in emergencies such as disasters and increases their likelihood of being harmed (Çakır & Aydoğmuş-Atalay, 2020).
There are many social policy practices for the elderly, who are one of the most vulnerable/sensitive and least adaptable groups. However, it has become more important where these social policies will evolve to or how they should evolve. In this sense, the main problem is evaluating the situation of the elderly in the region after the earthquake and to identify their needs. In this context, the general purpose of this study is to present some findings on the demographic structure, household type, and income status of the elderly population, which could guide social policies that can be put into practice for the elderly population in the earthquake region covering 11 provinces (Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Şanlıurfa). For this purpose, quantitative raw data required for these findings was obtained from the statistical tables published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) in the bulletin “Statistics on the Elderly” dated March 17, 2023. The region defined as an earthquake zone includes data from 11 provinces.
In this study, the course of development of the elderly population (in Turkey in general and in the earthquake region), the age structure in the earthquake region, the elderly in the earthquake region in the context of family/household, and the social and economic situation and needs of the elderly in the earthquake region will be presented. However, it would be appropriate to briefly inform about the background of the subject, the relevant literature, and the methodology.
