Located at the intersection of several tectonic plates, Türkiye is highly prone to earthquakes, and in February 2023 it experienced its worst disaster in recent history. Several earthquakes of magnitudes ranging from 7.8 to 6.3 with epicentres in the provinces of Kahramanmaraş and Hatay caused widespread damage, destruction and displacement in both Türkiye and Syria.^{1, 2, 3}

The earthquakes and subsequent aftershocks triggered around four million internal displacements and killed more than 47,000 people in Türkiye alone. Hundreds of thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed, and many of those still standing had to be demolished. The severity of the quakes, the age of the buildings and the noncompliance of construction standards explain why the destruction was so extensive.⁴

Damage to health and water infrastructure created health and sanitation challenges for IDPs and other residents, particularly pregnant women, older people and those with chronic diseases. Mental health needs were also high as IDPs struggled with homelessness, the loss of loved ones and post-traumatic stress.^{5, 6, 7}

The earthquakes also created specific challenges for internally displaced children and young people. Provincial schools incorporated them, but many were overwhelmed by the influx of pupils, putting an additional burden on teachers, many of whom were displaced themselves.⁸ The areas affected are also home to around 1.8 million Syrian refugees whose needs increased as a result of the disaster.⁹

More than 271,000 rescue personnel were deployed in the aftermath of the quakes, supported by international emergency teams and nearly 1.4 million Turkish volunteers.^{10, 11, 12, 13} Hundreds of thousands of tents were set up, and hotels and public buildings were also used to accommodate those forced to flee. Displaced people are gradually moving from tents to container cities that provide them with better living conditions, but emergency shelter is still a priority for many. As of 1 June, four million people were still living in displacement.¹⁴

Background image: A collapsed building after the 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Hatay, Türkiye on 06 February 2023. © Ercin Erturk/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The conflict between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which broke out on 15 April, triggered more than 2.2 million internal displacements in its first ten weeks, almost as many as the country recorded in the previous ten years combined.^{26, 27, 28, 29, 30}

More than two-thirds of the movements originated in the capital state of Khartoum, where the heaviest fighting has taken place.^{31, 32, 33} Clashes also spread to the historically marginalised region of Darfur, which was home to almost three-quarters of the country’s IDPs before the current conflict erupted.^{34, 35, 36} Many were forced to flee again as a result.³⁷

Years of conflict and violence had already left 3.8 million people, or a tenth of the country’s population, living in internal displacement as of March 2023.³⁸ As women and girls flee the violence both within and beyond the country’s borders, they become more vulnerable to gender-based violence (GBV), including sexual exploitation and domestic abuse.^{39, 40} In a country where 40 per cent of the population is under 15 years old, the safety of children is also in jeopardy because some families have been separated as a result of their displacement.^{41, 42}

Despite occasional ceasefires, the fighting has severely restricted humanitarian access. Transport, telecommunications and other critical infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed and aid workers have been killed and injured.⁴³ Emergency camps have been set up, but they only host a quarter of the country’s IDPs. The rest have sought shelter with host families.⁴⁴

Not only have Sudanese nationals fled across borders into neighbouring countries, particularly Egypt and Chad. The conflict has also forced hundreds of thousands of refugees from countries such as Ethiopia, the Central African Republic and South Sudan to go back to their countries of origin, where many have few resources to pursue durable solutions.^{45, 46, 47, 48}

Background image: A great-grandmother in a former office building in Geneina, Sudan, where she is residing after being displaced for a second time by violence. © Rawan Kara/ NRC 

As the war in Ukraine continues, durable solutions are a distant prospect for many of the country’s IDPs, who numbered around 5.1 million as of the end of May.⁴⁹ Intense fighting persists, particularly in the east of the country, and the impacts of the conflict continue to disrupt livelihood opportunities for displaced and non-displaced populations alike.^{50, 51} Insecurity is also hampering data collection in the occupied territories, making overall displacement estimates conservative.

The majority of IDPs have moved from and within the oblasts of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia.⁵² Two-thirds of those surveyed in May and June still cited return as their preferred long-term solution, but the proportion has decreased as the conflict endures, leaving more and more respondents uncertain of their long-term intentions. Others, mostly in urban areas, are increasingly open to integrating locally, but say they need cash assistance, livelihood support and affordable housing to be able to do so.⁵³

Despite numerous cash and social assistance programmes from both the government and non-governmental organisations, IDPs continue to report greater needs across all indicators compared with their non-displaced counterparts. This is particularly the case for displaced women. Sixty per cent of IDPs have been displaced for more than a year, meaning many have exhausted their savings. A quarter rely on their state allowance as their primary source of income.⁵⁴

The destruction on 6 June of the Kakhovka dam, upstream of the city of Kherson on the Dnipro river, added another layer of complexity to the situation in the frontline area.⁵⁵ It led to extensive flooding, destroying homes and triggering 12,000 evacuations.^{56, 57} The floods also threatened to move mines and other explosive ordnance to areas previously uncontaminated, raised concerns about the safety of the nearby Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and damaged water infrastructure, increasing health risks and disrupting agricultural activities and broader food systems.^{58, 59, 60}

Background image: A woman examines the debris of her apartment in Mala Rohan, Ukraine after a Russian shell destroyed it, forcing her to move into an apartment with her neighbours. © UNOCHA/Mateo Minasi

Tropical cyclone Mocha was the most significant weather-related disaster displacement event globally in the first half of 2023, triggering around 1.7 million movements from Sri Lanka to Myanmar through India and Bangladesh. Myanmar, where Mocha made landfall as a category 4-equivalent cyclone on 14 May, accounted for 912,000. It struck Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine, and caused significant damage to homes across the state. At least 63,000 displacements took place from camps sheltering people already displaced by conflict.

In Bangladesh, Mocha triggered 780,000 pre-emptive evacuations. A week before its landfall, emergency procedures were put in place in areas at imminent risk, helping to keep casualty figures low and facilitating quick returns.^{61, 62, 63} The whole population of the island of St Martin was evacuated and boats pulled ashore to avert deaths, losses and damage to livelihoods, attesting the value of lessons learned from previous cyclones in the Bay of Bengal.^{64, 65}

Displacement was reported in Cox’s Bazar, which is home to Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.⁶⁶ More than 29,000 were temporarily relocated from their homes for up to 12 hours.⁶⁷ Many of those displaced, however, were living in informal shelters made of materials unable to withstand Mocha’s impacts, which impeded their return and recovery.^{68, 69, 70}

As of the end of June, 13,000 people were still living in internal displacement in Bangladesh pending the reconstruction of their homes. On both sides of the border, Mocha aggravated the humanitarian needs of those already displaced, who continue to face obstacles to their recovery. In Myanmar, this is partly as a result of access restrictions.⁷⁰

Background image: Residents of a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh in the rains preceding Cyclone Mocha. Pre-emptive evacuations helped keep casualty numbers low and facilitated quick returns in the country, although damage to the informal shelters in camps impeded the recovery for their residents. © UNICEF/UN0842307/Mukut

Conflict and disasters continued to trigger internal displacement in Somalia, with nearly 1.3 million movements recorded in the first half of the year. Conflict and violence accounted for nearly 541,000, and disasters, primarily drought and floods, 715,000.

More than a third of the conflict displacements took place in the northern region of Sool, where fighting around administrative borders erupted in the first quarter of the year in the capital of Las Anod.^{71, 72, 73} Most people have fled violence by taking refuge in rural areas and with host families.⁷⁴ In the region of Hiiraan, where most conflict displacements were reported in 2022, the number of movements decreased in the first half of 2023 as local power dynamics shifted and a government-led military campaign made gains against the Al-Shabaab non-state armed group.^{75, 76}

Hiiraan was, however, hit by devastating floods, accounting for 62 per cent of the nearly 418,000 flood displacements reported across the country in the first half of the year. Most of the 260,000 movements recorded took place in May in the Belet Weyne district, where damage to homes in flood-prone areas regularly leads to displacement.⁷⁷ The floods were a direct consequence of the Shabelle river bursting its banks, but more broadly they were the result of increased precipitation during the Gu rainy season, the onset of the El Niño phenomenon and reduced soil absorption caused by years of drought.⁷⁸

The rains provided temporary relief to communities affected by drought, but the impacts of the country’s worst in 40 years are far from over. Drought alone triggered 297,000 movements in the first half of 2023, more than 40 per cent of all disaster displacements recorded. People fled in search of food and assistance, mostly in the southern regions of Bay, Gedo and Lower Shabelle.^{79, 80, 81}

Background image: Residents at the Hanano 2 IDP zone in Baidoa, Somalia collect water from a water distribution site set up by the Norwegian Refugee Council. Drought caused more than 40% of the disaster displacements recorded in the country in the first half of 2023. © Abdulkadir Mohamed/NRC

Tropical cyclone Freddy was one of the longest-lasting recorded worldwide. It formed in the Indian Ocean on 5 February and dissipated in Malawi on 14 March, affecting six countries and territories across south-eastern Africa.^{82, 83, 84} After making landfall in Madagascar and Mozambique, Freddy hit southern Malawi as a category 4-equivalent storm, severely affecting the districts of Blantyre, Chikwawa and Nsanje and triggering more than 659,000 internal displacements, the highest figure ever for the country.

The cyclone caused floods, landslides and mudslides, which were aggravated by deforestation and land degradation. Homes were severely damaged and destroyed, forcing authorities to quickly set up displacement camps. More than three-quarters had been decommissioned by the end of June and some people had been able to go back to their homes, but information on returns is limited.⁸⁵

The storm also damaged basic infrastructure and shut down markets as well as education and health facilities, increasing the risk of waterborne diseases in a country already struggling with its deadliest cholera outbreak in 60 years.^{86, 87} Food insecurity also became a challenge, particularly in the worst affected districts of Chikwawa and Nsanje.⁸⁸

Freddy was the third deadliest cyclone ever recorded in the southern hemisphere, just after cyclone Idai which hit the same countries four years ago. ⁸⁹ A month after Freddy, Malawi adapted its disaster risk management system, which was geared toward reducing flood risk, to reflect the fact that other hazards including storms and landslides have become the leading causes of mortality and displacement. It also updated its Disaster Risk Management Act to put more emphasis on early warning, prevention and risk reduction, including the importance of conducting pre-emptive evacuations and developing climate adaptation strategies.^{90, 91} These initiatives are essential, considering that the frequency and intensity of cyclones are projected to increase in southern Africa.⁹²

Background image: Cyclone Freddy caused floods, landslides and mudlsides across Malawi. © JACK MCBRAMS/AFP/Getty Images

Intercommunal tensions in Manipur led to protests on 3 May that turned violent, becoming one of the deadliest confrontations in the north-eastern state’s recent history. The violence broke out in Churachandpur district and spread to Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur, Tengnupal and Kangpokipi, triggering around 66,000 internal displacements as of 30 June. This was the highest figure for displacement associated with conflict and violence in the country since 2018 when violence and displacement took place in Indian-controlled Kashmir.^{115, 116}

The violence in Manipur has an ethnic dimension and is rooted in the state’s historical social, economic and political structures. Disputes over land distribution and rights are also underlying drivers.^{117, 118, 119, 120} The Indian government received a formal petition at the end of March to recognise the Meitei community as a scheduled tribe, an official status designed to protect minorities from socioeconomic and political marginalisation.^{121, 122} The request was met with resistance from other local scheduled tribes, including the Kukis, who argue their economic, political and social disadvantages are unresolved.^{123, 124}

As the violence escalated, the central government imposed curfews, shut down the internet and sent in the security forces.^{125, 126} It also set up relief camps to assist those displaced.¹²⁷ More than three-quarters of the displacements recorded were within Manipur, but almost a fifth were to the neighbouring state of Mizoram and smaller numbers to Nagaland and Assam states.¹²⁸ Some people also fled across the border to Myanmar.¹²⁹ The central government also established a peace committee for Manipur chaired by the state governor, but the initiative has been hampered by disagreements about its composition.¹³⁰

Most of those who fled the violence were still displaced as of 30 June.

Background image: Charred remains of a residence in Imphal, India, set ablaze by a mob during intercommunal violence in the state of Manipur. © Anuwar Hazarika/NurPhoto via Getty Images