Case Study — People Risk 2023
Crisis24's Incident Management Team Responds to Turkey-Syria Earthquake
Situational Analysis
At 4:17 am local time on February 6, 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck 23 miles northwest of Gaziantep, Turkey, with tremors felt as far away as Lebanon and Israel. Less than 15 minutes later, a series of 60 aftershocks began, with the strongest equaling 7.5 on the magnitude scale occurring at 1:24 pm local time, just nine hours after the first earthquake began. This powerful aftershock struck 50 miles north of the epicenter of the earlier earthquake.
Hundreds of aftershocks were reported following the initial twin earthquakes, including significant quakes near Goksun, Golbasi, Adiyaman province, and Matalya provinces. After visiting the impacted areas, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a three-month state of emergency for ten provinces in the southeastern region of Turkey.
The earthquakes caused power outages, leveled buildings, and substantially damaged roadways and bridges. A significant winter storm in the west and northwest of the country exacerbated the deteriorating situation, creating travel disruptions and hampering relief efforts. Weather-related landslides created road closures, and a significant fire in the strategically important port of Iskenderun in Hatay province resulted in a complete halt in operations, with all scheduled shipments being diverted to other ports. Hatay Airport closed due to severe structural damage, and Gaziantep International Airport, Kahramanmaras Airport, and Sanliurfa GAP Airport are only open to flights carrying humanitarian aid.
Significant disruptions to essential water supplies, fuel, and electricity supplies are ongoing. Additionally, the communications infrastructure was severely impacted, impeding contact with people on the ground.
As of February 10, 2023, media sources report over 22,000 deaths and tens of thousands of injuries across Turkey and Syria. The number of fatalities is expected to rise as rescue efforts continue among the rubble of cities, towns, and provinces in both countries.
Crisis24’s Global Operations Center in Action
Actionable Risk Intelligence
Crisis24 risk intelligence analysts issued critical alerts within moments of the initial earthquake and continued to monitor the situation, updating clients with new details as the condition worsened. The multidisciplinary intelligence team included geopolitical, health and medical, environment, and maritime experts – all coordinating with our crisis response teams to provide detailed updates of the on-the-ground situation so they could proactively reach out to clients with personnel in the zone of impact.
Incident Management Team Activated
Upon confirmation of personnel in the area of impact, Crisis24 stood up an incident management team comprised of intelligence analysts, crisis response experts, medical experts, executive protection detail, security staff, and other first responders. The team immediately initiated our critical outreach process built on industry-proven standards. Utilizing components of our proprietary risk management platform, the team identified potentially affected personnel through Critical Monitor, confirmed their well-being through Critical Outreach, and initiated direct contact with people via Communicator, our two-way notification tool. With multiple communication channels available, including in-app push notifications, SMS, email, and text-to-voice, the chances of reaching people increased. Crisis24’s dedicated hotline response coordinators reviewed client crisis response protocols to determine appropriate courses of action.
Crisis Response
As mass-casualty reports were confirmed and the operating infrastructure collapsed, our crisis response team initiated a controlled and structured response strategy, identifying potential security and medical scenarios that could develop, including evacuation and shelter-in-place options. Initial assessments included evacuation and route planning, medical supplies audits and infrastructure review, and the availability of medical staff, medicine, food, water, and other necessities.
Medical Assessments
Detailed assessments were conducted to ascertain the impact on hospitals and medical facilities, medical transportation services, availability of air ambulance services, and airport/airfield conditions and capabilities. The medical response team developed a medical triage plan with first responders, factoring in types of injuries, the on-the-ground operating environment, availability of medical personnel, and options to stand up a temporary medical facility.
Evacuation Assessments
The crisis response team also worked with local resources and Crisis24’s risk intelligence team to conduct route planning assessments that examined the quality of roads, airports, ports, availability of land and air transportation, and availability of safe houses.
Support for Clients
Crisis24’s embedded intelligence team issued bespoke reports for clients detailing the ongoing situation in the affected areas. This included evaluation of the operating infrastructure, including supply chain assessments and potential risks to the business, and provided recommended actions for security leaders.
Coordinated Critical Event Response
When every second matters, you want experienced partners at your side. An even better scenario is a single experienced partner providing everything you need no matter where you need it. Like the proverbial well-oiled machine, Crisis24 is the only risk management company that operates proficiently through the effective coordination of many parts – providing clients with a single partner for crisis management.
In a crisis, the ability to move swiftly and decisively is crucial to ensuring a successful outcome.
The agility and depth of the Crisis24 incident management team allowed us to quickly establish an experienced crisis response team ready to support our clients. Crisis24’s incident management team provided actionable risk intelligence to help clients make informed decisions about the safety and welfare of their personnel and the potential impact on business operations. Our 24/7 intelligence, expert advice, response support, and technology platform collectively deliver precisely what you need to deal with a crisis.