15 April 2023
On 6 February 2023, as the earthquake struck Gaziantep, a major city of two million people in south-central Turkey, the Critical Incident Stress Management Section (CISMS) team in New York was on high alert, monitoring the crisis as it unfolded. As the central body responsible for coordinating UN systemwide psychosocial support during emergencies, CISMS was ready to put in motion a crisis response plan.
Within 24 hours, CISMS held its first regional cell meeting with 17 participants who attended from T¨¹rkiye, Syria and other neighboring countries in Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Facilitated by the CISMS Regional Stress Counsellor and with the support of the Psychosocial Wellbeing Program Advisor, the discussion synergized the coordination efforts between counsellors from Agencies Funds and Programmes (AFPs) including OCHA, UNHCR, UNICEF, IOM, WFP, World Bank, and UNDP.
The first regional cell meeting in crisis situations is often crucial, as it allows UNSMS entities to rapidly identify and enable local and regional resources in preparation for deployment to crisis-affected areas to ensure essential psychosocial support services to UN personnel, including dependents, who were directly and indirectly affected by the crisis.
In the first week of the crisis, CISMS identified five local and other 21 MENA-based counsellors (including external providers) available to serve from T¨¹rkiye, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Gaza, Iraq and Egypt while another 16 counsellors from outside MENA supported as needed. In addition, CISMS established an online repository of resources related to the management of psychosocial needs in natural disasters. CISMS also set up and maintained a unified communication line to allow counsellors to share their updates.
To ensure continuity of psychosocial support, CISMS surged two stress counsellors to Gaziantep between 6 and 31 March 2023. During the recent deployment, the surge counsellor noted elevated levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and panic among UN staff. Many staff were forced to take shelter in their cars and needed urgent access to cash for food, water, gas, and other basic supplies. The surge helped staff through 1:1 and group counselling sessions along with basic self-care tips delivered to 817 UN staff and their dependents, including 251 international and 296 national staff.