Earthquake potential impact on Bread Production Facilities in Northwest Syria

The recent 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Türkiye and Syria has had a catastrophic impact on the region. According to the latest OCHA flash update (February 8th, 2023), over 2,000 buildings have been completely destroyed and more than 5,100 buildings have been partially destroyed in Northwest Syria. In the aftermath of this disaster, bread availability is one of the most critical humanitarian needs, as daily bread supply is already limited and considered vulnerable.

This map provides a brief overview of the magnitude of the earthquake, the areas affected, and the locations of the bread production facilities (bakeries, mills, and silos) in NWS. As shown, many facilities are in the highly affected areas, such as Afrin, A’zaz, Al Bab, Jarablus, Harim, and Idleb districts. As per iMMAP Wheat to Bread Facility Mapping study of Q4 2022, these districts alone had a total of 203 operational bakeries that produced 5,700 MT of bread weekly covering approximately 65% of these districts population's needs. Moreover, 50% of the operational bakeries across NWS reported structural maintenance or rehabilitation needs in Q4 2022, a percentage that can highly increase with the scale of the disaster. Given the expected destruction of the bread production facilities, it is likely that the bread production levels will decrease and further deteriorate the food security status across NWS.