From the Disaster of the Century to the Solidarity of the Century: Earthquakes Facilitate Social Bonding in Türkiye

In this talk, we outline the theoretical rationale, methods, results, and discussion of a quantitative field study (currently under review for publication) as follows:

Introduction

On February 6, 2023, two major earthquakes struck Türkiye. These seismic events were one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history (1). News coverage of the aftermath of the earthquakes highlighted new social dimensions to interpersonal relations in Turkey, including heightened feelings of comradeship amongst Turkish communities and a surge in antagonism towards Syrian refugees in Türkiye (2, 3), but the accuracy of these reports has since been questioned (4).

The goal of our research was twofold. First, to disambiguate the impact of the catastrophic events of February 6 on interpersonal perceptions. Second, to investigate the predictors and consequences of identity fusion—a visceral sense of oneness with a group— experienced by Turkish citizens about their fellow citizens and Syrian refugees following the catastrophic earthquakes of February 6, 2023. Our second goal was motivated by evolving evidence indicating that natural disasters can foster social cohesion and altruistic conduct among groups confronted with a shared threat stemming from their perceived shared experience of suffering during the disaster (5, 6).  

Methods and Results

Three months post-disaster, the lead researcher, a native Turkish citizen, immersed herself in and around Cities close to fault lines in Southern Türkiye to survey Turks directly affected by the tremors, surveying 120 Turkish earthquake survivors.

Results revealed challenges in establishing relationships between emotional intensity, perceived sharedness, and identity fusion due to extreme emotional intensity during the earthquake. However, mean fusion levels significantly increased with perceived shared suffering, validating predictions. Identity fusion also predicted pro-group commitment, measured by volunteerism pledges of Turkish earthquake survivors. As expected, Turkish earthquake survivors exhibited higher pro-group commitment scores than their Syrian counterparts. Significantly, however, identity fusion predicted volunteerism towards all groups, including Syrian refugees, underscoring a willingness to extend support across ethnic and national boundaries in the face of shared adversity.

Discussion

Our findings challenge dominant media narratives of increased antagonism in Turkey after the earthquake and contribute to understanding the dynamics of identity fusion in post-catastrophe contexts.

References

1. National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS) (2023) NCEI/WDS Global Significant Earthquake Database. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Accessed December 6, 2023. doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K. https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazel/view/hazards/earthquake/event-data.

2. Vetch F. (2023) In Turkey, anger at Syrians reaches boiling point as elections loom. Coda Story. May 12 2023.

https://www.codastory.com/disinformation/turkey-2023-election-syrian-refugees/.

3. Daily Sabah. Nearly 60,000 Syrians left Türkiye for home after the quakes. Daily Sabah, updated on March 27 2023. https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/diplomacy/nearly-60000-syrians-leave-turkiye-for-home-after-quakes.

4. Akgundogdu, S. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy: Policy Analysis/Policy Notes 131, March 20, 2023 https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/turkish-backlash-how-street-interviews-spread-anti-syrian-refugee-sentiment

5. Swann Jr, W. B., Gómez, A., Seyle, D. C., Morales, J., & Huici, C. (2009). Identity fusion: The interplay of personal and social identities in extreme group behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(5), 995.

6. Whitehouse, H., Jong, J., Buhrmester, M.D., Gómez, Á., Bastian, B., Kavanagh, C.M., Newson, M., Matthews, M., Lanman, J.A., McKay, R. and Gavrilets, S. (2017). The evolution of extreme cooperation via shared dysphoric experiences. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 1-10.

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