Disasters, Earthquakes and Mass Forced Migration: An Assessment on Earthquakes Centered in Kahramanmaraş

Abstract

The phenomenon of mass forced migration, which is expressed as a type of man-made disasters, reflects a term intertwined with disasters. The aim of this study is to deal with disasters, earthquakes and mass forced migrations from different perspectives within this nested structure. Then, it is to evaluate over Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes. As a result of this evaluation, three important relationships were identified between mass forced migrations and disasters. These are; disasters causing migration, migration causing disasters, and migration exacerbating the damage of disasters. The phenomenon of mass forced migration can become a potential disaster if it creates a burden on the public services of the target countries that requires foreign aid and disrupts the routine, which cannot be overcome on their own. Forced immigrants are called vulnerable groups due to the demographic, economic, social and cultural disadvantages they have in the countries they live in and may create a significant vulnerability in the event of a disaster. Both the disasters that took place in the world in the past, the earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş in Turkey on February 6, 2023 and the figures announced as a result of these earthquakes show that refugees and other forced migrants experience much greater losses than the local population in the disasters experienced as a ratio. Based on all these reasons, some suggestions were presented to policy makers as a result of this study. © 2024, Ankara University. All rights reserved.