UNITED NATIONS, Mar 28 (APP): The International Labour Organization (ILO), a Geneva-based UN agency, Tuesday called for urgent support to prevent a slide into poverty and an increase in child labour and hand-to-mouth jobs, following the devastating earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria in February.
In new assessment reports, ILO said hundreds of thousands of workers in both countries have lost their livelihoods because of the earthquakes.
“Employment promotion is central to a successful and inclusive response to this disaster,” ILO Director-General Gilbert Houngbo said in a statement.
“People can only begin to rebuild their lives if they have rebuilt their livelihoods. We owe it to those who have lost so much in the earthquake to ensure that the principles of social justice and decent work are firmly embedded in the recovery and reconstruction process.”
The earthquakes left more than 658,000 workers unable to earn their living, and more than 150,000 workplaces unusable, initial findings suggest.
In the face of steep income and job losses, the ILO warned about increasing risks to occupational safety and health, as well as child labour.
Affected workers face average income losses of more than $230 per month each, for as long as the disruption continues. Overall, the crisis is likely to have reduced take-home pay by around $150 million per month in the affected areas, ILO reported.
Lost work hours have rippled across the affected area. Estimates show that in Malatya, 58.8 per cent of work hours are estimated to have been lost, with comparable figures of 48.1 per cent in Adiyaman and 45.2 per cent in Hatay.
The affected provinces in Türkiye are home to more than four million workers, most employed in agriculture, manufacturing, trade, or other “low-value-added” services.
In Syria, where 12 years of civil war had already taken a huge toll on the economy and labour market, ILO estimated that about 170,000 workers have lost their jobs as a result of the earthquakes. This has directly affected around 154,000 households and more than 725,000 people.
Around 35,000 micro small and medium-sized enterprises have also been affected. This temporary “disemployment” has led to total labour income losses equivalent to at least $5.7 million a month.
The five worst-affected districts – Aleppo, Hama, Idleb, Lattakia and Tartous – were home to an estimated 42.4 per cent of the country’s total population. This includes around 7.1 million people of working age of 16 and up, 22.8 per cent of whom are women.
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