Adıyaman receives new street-sweeper to help with city waste cleanup and improve life for many earthquake survivors living in informal settlements

Adıyaman, 13 June 2023 – With the delivery of a new street-sweeping vehicle to Adıyaman municipality, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Kingdom are continuing to provide essential supplies and equipment as part of a US$1.9 million program to meet urgent needs of Turkish communities affected by the earthquakes of 6 February 2023. UNDP Resident Representative Louisa Vinton today presented the new vehicle to Adıyaman Deputy Mayor Abuzer Çelik and the municipality’s waste management team. 

Adıyaman was one of the three provinces worst affected by the earthquakes. Nearly a quarter of all houses and housing units collapsed or were completely destroyed, and three-quarters of all housing in Adıyaman experienced some damage. Estimates a month after the earthquakes indicated that 307,000 people were displaced in Adıyaman province, with many living in tents and informal settlements in and around the city, without access to water sources and sanitary facilities. Municipal services such as trash pickup have been severely disrupted by the disaster.   

“We recognize the strength of the people of Adıyaman and salute the thousands of residents who continue to endure the hardship of living in temporary shelters,” said UNDP’s Vinton. “We recognize also the challenges faced by local authorities, working to restore public services for all who have survived. Better waste management is essential to healthy and safe conditions for so many living in close quarters, and UNDP is keen to assist, with UK funding.”  

British Ambassador Jill Morris said: “After the devastating earthquakes, the UK responded immediately to the Turkish Government’s request for humanitarian support. Four months after the disaster, we continue to stand with the people of Türkiye, as the needs generated by the earthquakes remain vast. The UK government is pleased to be working with UNDP and other UN agencies to meet these needs and ease the suffering of thousands in the affected area.”  

“Waste management has emerged as a clear challenge after the earthquakes,” said Deputy Mayor Çelik. “With much of our municipal infrastructure and equipment destroyed, we are grateful to receive new replacements. Keeping things clean in the city center is vital not just for public health but also as a contribution to restoring local morale.”   

The street-sweeping truck, valued at US$100,000, will provide urgently needed waste collection and street-cleaning service in urban Adıyaman, where the earthquakes destroyed entire city blocks. UNDP delivered an identical street-sweeping vehicle in April 2023 to Kilis, which has seen its population surge by 40 percent since the earthquakes.    

The street-sweepers are just one component of a larger UK-funded project that will see UNDP make further deliveries of waste containers and supplies not only to Adıyaman but also to the other two provinces that were hardest hit by the earthquakes, Hatay and Kahramanmaraş. Future assistance will involve the delivery of urgent care services to persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups through the establishment of mobile care units and temporary daycare centers. UNDP’s Vinton signed MoUs covering these and other needs with Adıyaman and Kahramanmaraş on 13 June; a third MoU with Hatay will be signed in coming days.    

The UK funding was provided in response to UNDP’s request under the UN Flash Appeal of 16 February 2023.     

The February earthquakes struck an area of 110,000 sq km across southern Türkiye, killing more than 50,700 people, displacing 3.3 million (more than 20 percent of the region’s total population) and destroying more than 313,000 buildings. The Türkiye Earthquakes Recovery and Reconstruction Assessment (TERRA), an analysis of the disaster’s financial impact conducted by the Turkish Government with support from UNDP, the UN, the EU and the World Bank, estimated the total damages and losses caused by the earthquakes at US$103.6 billion.

For more information: 
Bahar Paykoç, Communications Officer for UNDP in Türkiye, bahar.paykoc@undp.org