Addressing Nutrition Service Management After the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes.

Abstract

The study addresses nutrition service management after the 7.8M and 7.6M Kahramanmaraş earthquakes. Initially, permission from the Turkish Red Crescent General Directorate and the support of the Turkish Red Crescent Academy were obtained to gather knowledge about the disaster response. In the short term, nutritional support was achieved for some settlements by the Turkish Red Crescent because the affected area was on a large scale. As a result, risk management should be considered, especially when planning nutrition services for the acute period. Nevertheless, the Turkish Red Crescent coordinated the long-term transportation and management of all food aid. Nearly 100 000 earthquake victims received nutrition services from the Turkish Red Crescent, while more than 3 million earthquake victims received food aid from nutrition platforms and other institutions. A multilevel nutrition service management model, which includes pre-disaster, disaster, and post-disaster, can accelerate the transition to normalization following the earthquake with a high-quality food supply and nutrition service.