Şahin, A U (2025) The disastrousness of asylum: Syrian asylum seekers and their impact on disastrousness in the kahramanmaraş earthquakes. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 16(3), pp. 363-377. ISSN 1759-5908
Abstract
Purpose: Turkey hosts the majority of Syrians who fled their country due to the Syrian Civil War that started in 2011, and Syrians mostly live in the provinces most affected by the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of the presence of disadvantaged population on disaster risk in Turkey, a disaster country, through the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes and Syrian asylum-seekers, based on the claim that the vulnerability caused by this additional population residing in the provinces most affected by the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes is a factor that will increase the disastrousness of the earthquakes. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the mathematical model used in the calculation of the Human Development Index, the study comparatively calculates the vulnerability of the Turkish and Syrian populations residing in the earthquake-affected provinces by taking into account population density, gender, age, education and employment factors. Findings: The findings of the analysis show that the vulnerability of Syrian asylum seekers in Kilis, Gaziantep and Hatay provinces is higher than the vulnerability of the Turkish population. Originality/value: This paper shows significant findings on the effects of disadvantaged groups residing in a disaster-prone area concerning the consequences of the devastating earthquakes that occurred on February 6, 2023 in the southern region of Turkey.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | disadvantaged groups; disaster response; disastrousness; kahramanmaraş earthquakes; Syrian asylum seekers; vulnerable groups |
| Index terms: | vulnerability, population, methodology, mathematical model, disaster risk, presence, earthquake, war, Turkey, disaster response, density, vulnerable group, employment |
| Subjects: | emergency and crisis management, management, mathematical modelling, environmental hazards, communities and social development, demography, financial risk, conflict and crisis studies, Geography, research methods, analytical methods, environmental science |
| Topics: | Sustainability, Geographical Context, Legal Issues, Stakeholder Management, Cost Management, Research Practice, Urban Studies, Human Resources |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here