Reflections on Kahramanmaraş and Hatay Earthquakes: Evaluating Syrian Refugees' Location Choices in Terms of Earthquake Hazards and Risks

Abstract

Turkey is both a seismically active country due to the complex combination of important fault lines passing through it, and a country of migration hosting the largest refugee population in the world. One of the concerns raised after the earthquakes of February 2023 is the possible serious impacts of earthquakes on Syrian refugees. Within this framework, this study aimed to examine the location choice processes of Syrian refugees in reference to earthquake hazards and risks. To do this, it evaluated the location choice decisions of Syrians at the city, settle-ment area and housing scales together with their social char-acteristics. The researcher's own studies on location choice, everyday life, residential satisfaction, integration and quality of life of Syrian refugees, and related research in the literature, as well as statistical data obtained from the website of the Presidency of Migration Management, were synthesized to reach hints about earthquake hazards and risks at different scales and dimensions. The findings of the study indicated that the majority of the Syrian population is dispersed in earthquake -prone cities, which increases earthquake risks for both the Syrian population and these cities. On the other hand, the lack of housing and settlement policies for Syrian refugees scattered throughout Turkish cities has forced them to take responsibility for meeting their own housing needs. This has led Syrian refugees having limited financial resources to resettle in poor/underdeveloped and/or illegal settlement areas of cities where they live in low-quality, neglected, unhealthy, and structurally problematic houses having disaster risks. Moreover, Syrians' large family size, vulnerable groups including women, children and elders, and our inadequate knowledge on Syrian refugees due to their unauthorized movements within and between cities and their unregistered groups have increased their risk of being adversely affected by earthquakes.