BRUSSELS (ILO News) – The ILO has assigned funds to directly support workers and their families who were affected by the devastating earthquakes which struck Türkiye and Syria on 6 February.

“Today, I am pleased to announce that we have allocated USD 3.6 million of support to affected workers and their families and are working to mobilise additional resources for future work,” said ILO Regional Director for Arab States Ruba Jaradat at a donor conference hosted in Brussels to raise funds and coordinate the relief response in the areas affected in both countries.

The funds will go towards implementing emergency employment schemes to help rehabilitate destroyed infrastructure and restore the livelihoods in affected communities in the two countries.

“The ILO’s labour-intensive methods provide practical solutions to maximize job creation potential in areas where access to equipment is scarce, and livelihood opportunities are lost,” Jaradat said at the conference, hosted by the European Commission and the Government of Sweden.

Immediately after the earthquakes struck, the ILO engaged with the affected populations to cover the emergency needs of workers and their families.

It is conducting employment impact assessments in both countries, in collaboration with UN and development partners.

In Türkiye, the ILO is working with labour market institutions such as employment services to support job opportunities for affected workers. It is working with enterprises to enable them to offer decent and sustainable jobs while maintaining business continuity, and continues to assist business organizations and trade unions in ensuring their functioning and the provision of critical services to their memberships.

In Syria, the ILO is improving occupational safety and health practices through a series of training campaigns for engineers, alongside ongoing employment-intensive works in the affected neighbourhoods of Aleppo. The ILO is also providing grants to its social partners to help them support affected workers and businesses.

In the short-term, wage payment schemes serve as an immediate income security measure to vulnerable people affected by a crisis. In the middle and long term, they contribute to rehabilitating infrastructure and building individual and community skills and capacity.