An Examination of Temporary Shelter Units in Terms of Minimum Standards: The Case of the Kahramanmaraş Earthquake

Zehra Aslan (), Kader Demiröz and Sevda Demiröz Yıldırım
Additional contact information
Zehra Aslan: Department of First and Emergency Aid, Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University, Antalya 07400, Türkiye
Kader Demiröz: Department of Emergency Aid and Disaster Management, Artvin Coruh University, Artvin 08000, Türkiye
Sevda Demiröz Yıldırım: Department of Emergency Aid and Disaster Management, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Burdur 15100, Türkiye

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-22

Abstract: Disasters can be defined as natural, technological, and human-induced events that cause loss of life and socio-economic impacts in societies and stop normal life. Türkiye faces many disasters. The loss of life and economic losses caused by these disasters vary according to the type of disaster. Earthquakes are the natural disasters that affect Türkiye the most. Described as the disaster of the century, the Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes occurred on 6 February 2023 at 04:17 and 13:24 Turkish time. These earthquakes, with epicenters in Pazarcık (Kahramanmaraş) and Elbistan (Kahramanmaraş) with magnitudes of Mw 7.7 and Mw 7.6, affected 11 provinces including Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, and Malatya, killing 50,399 people and damaging 1,279,727 buildings. One of the most significant challenges following earthquakes is the issue of housing, which is addressed through the implementation of temporary housing units. This study aimed to evaluate the temporary shelter areas created after the Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes within the framework of regulations and standards in Türkiye and internationally. The study data were collected through direct observation and participant observation. For this purpose, the “Vali Saim Çotur Tent City”, which is located in the central Onikişubat district of Kahramanmaraş and is the second largest tent city, was examined. As a result of the examination, it was concluded that the tent city did not comply with national and international standards. Based on the findings and results of this study, it is recommended that disaster plans are revised and training programs organized for practitioners in order to prevent similar mistakes in future disasters.

Keywords: disaster; disaster management; temporary shelters; earthquake; sphere project (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3587/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/8/3587/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:8:p:3587-:d:1635873

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().