In 2023, earthquakes in south-eastern Türkiye, the worst in more than 80 years, caused immense loss of life in both Türkiye and Syria. They also resulted in thousands of injuries, widespread displacement and severe damage or collapse of numerous buildings, including at least 15 hospitals. The scale of destruction placed extraordinary pressure on the country’s health system. In the immediate aftermath, national capacity, coordination and speed of response became critical to saving lives.
To support the Turkish Ministry of Health’s response, 39 WHO-approved emergency medical teams (EMTs) were deployed from 22 countries to assist hospitals that had been damaged in the earthquakes, as well as those managing large numbers of trauma patients. Coordinated by WHO, this was the largest deployment of EMTs to a WHO European Region disaster zone in its 75-year history.
From trauma surgeons and emergency physicians to logisticians and rehabilitation specialists, teams worked alongside Turkish health emergency workers and rescue teams to deliver life-saving care in the most affected areas. Their work not only shaped the response in the days and weeks following the disaster, but also deepened global learning on best practices for national and international emergency response.
At the centre of Türkiye’s national response stood UMKE – the National Medical Rescue Team of the Turkish Ministry of Health.
National EMT response
Following the 1999 İzmit earthquake, efforts were undertaken to strengthen Türkiye’s disaster preparedness and emergency medical response capacity. In this context, in 2003, the Ministry of Health launched the Disaster Health Organization Project.
The project ensured that well-trained and properly equipped teams could deliver medical rescue services as rapidly as possible at disaster sites, both nationally and internationally, particularly in response to earthquakes and other potential disasters. The project sought to ensure the rapid and safe transfer of patients and injured people, and provide emergency medical units and care following transfers, while creating professional management and organizational structures necessary to coordinate these activities effectively.
These efforts led to the establishment of UMKE, a nationwide network comprising more than 20 000 trained health professionals, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, health technicians and other logistics and technical staff. Designed to deploy rapidly in disasters, deliver emergency care in the field, support patient transport and reinforce overstretched health facilities both nationally and internationally, it was classified by WHO as a Type 2 EMT (as of 2020) and a Type 1 Mobile and Fixed EMT (as of 2026).
An essential network
Following the earthquakes, UMKE teams were mobilized within hours. As hospitals were damaged and access to care was disrupted across affected provinces, teams deployed to the hardest-hit areas and began working under extreme conditions.
During the earthquake response in Hatay, the network’s operational activities were led by Serkan Demirci, the Ministry of Health’s National UMKE Unit Coordinator. He recalls the intensity of those first days: “I was walking amongst the triage tents. There were only ambulances who brought injured people from the collapsed buildings and citizens who brought their own injured relatives. I realized that this was the worst scene I had ever witnessed in my 27-year career.”
The scale of the emergency required immediate national mobilization coordinated with other sectors of the Turkish government. UMKE assumed a central operational role in clinical response and coordination of onsite medical services. Working alongside national authorities and international partners, they helped to manage triage systems, evacuate the injured, establish field hospitals and ensure continuity of emergency care in severely affected areas. Their leadership reflected the core principles of the WHO EMT initiative: rapid deployment, self-sufficiency and integration into national coordination structures.International EMT response
One of the EMTs supporting the response in Türkiye was UK-Med, a United Kingdom-based nongovernmental organization, who established a fully equipped, fully staffed field hospital in Türkoğlu, not far from the earthquake’s epicentre.
“UK-Med responded within just 18 hours of the Türkiye-Syria earthquake, bringing surge capacity to the health system at a critical moment. By working alongside and within the national health system, we helped to ensure continuity of care at our field hospital and through mobile clinics,” says CEO David Wightwick.
“The lessons we learned around rapid deployment of an assessment team, adaptable health-care delivery, logistics and government collaboration have strengthened our responses globally over the past three years, enabling us to support communities affected by crises more effectively and at greater scale, such as Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica and our ongoing field hospitals in Gaza.”
Credit: EMT2-ITA Regione Piemonte
Mario Raviolo, Team Leader of an Italian Type 2 EMT from Piedmont, Italy, holds a baby born in the field hospital he oversaw
Italy deployed a 50-member urban search and rescue team and a WHO-classified Type 2 EMT field hospital through the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism. Operating in Antakya, the EMT provided round-the-clock emergency and surgical care, inpatient services, intensive care, diagnostic imaging and laboratory support. Following the response, the hospital was donated to Türkiye and integrated into local health services.
“Our role was never simply to provide emergency care. From the outset, we worked alongside Turkish health authorities to ensure that the support we delivered strengthened existing services and could be sustained over time. The donation and handover of the field hospital reflected that approach – building capacity within the national health system and ensuring that critical resources remain available long after the international response has ended,” explained Mario Raviolo, who led the team at the field hospital.
Serkan notes that if the international EMTs that were deployed there had asked UMKE to fulfil some of their needs, this would have increased an already heavy burden. “However, the fact that they are self-sufficient and they simply relied on their own means made UMKE’s job much easier in the earthquake-affected region,” he recalls.
Sharing learning and capacity
Based on the lessons learned during the earthquake response, UMKE continues to work in line with International Health Regulations core capacity requirements for strengthening national preparedness and response. The organization is developing additional capabilities to enhance pre-hospital and primary care support, while also reinforcing operational readiness across a range of emergencies, including potential outbreak response activities.
UMKE is also expanding its international role, with the aim of contributing to the global system that supported Türkiye in 2023 by deploying clinical surge capacities to emergencies worldwide. In parallel, it is leading regional preparedness efforts through mentorship to other teams, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and through capacity-building and twinning activities with neighbouring countries. To promote a culture of collaboration with international EMTs, UMKE actively participates in projects such as rescEU EMT, which involve multiple European countries.
Oleg Storozhenko, WHO’s Regional Advisor for the Global Health Emergency Corps, says that the learning showed that true resilience requires a dual approach. “On one hand, the response highlighted the critical importance of robust national clinical surge capacities integrated into national health systems and interoperable with other sectors involved in response operations. This was powerfully represented by UMKE during the earthquake response. On the other hand, it underscored the vital role of international solidarity, driven by the well-coordinated international EMT support received from across the globe when it was needed most.”
On 1–2 July 2026, WHO/Europe, in collaboration with the Government of Türkiye, will host the WHO Ministerial Conference on advancing health security through earthquake emergency management in Istanbul, Türkiye. The conference will bring together partners to strengthen earthquake readiness and collaboration across the WHO European Region and beyond.