Perceptions and evaluations of women who experienced the February 2023 Türkiye earthquake: "Everything was so difficult and scary..."

Background: Women, with more vulnerabilities and less access to resources, are often seen as victims of natural disasters. The present study aimed to describe the perceptions and evaluations of women who experienced the February 2023 earthquake in Türkiye. Methods: Thirteen volunteer earthquake-affected women of reproductive age were included in the study, which was planned in the phenomenological design. The research data were collected by the researchers using the face-to-face interview technique along with a semi-structured questionnaire. Content analysis was conducted in analyzing data. As a result of women’s perceptions and evaluations, a three-stage process model created with in vivo coding was reached. The first stage includes the theme of "Difficult and Scary" as "Very difficult to explain, where words fail." The second stage was titled "After the earthquake..." and included the subthemes were “Failure to meet basic needs," "Lack of coordination and injustice in distribution," "Psychological trauma, exhausting," "Emotional state reactions," "Weather conditions," "Safety problems," "Failure to meet primary toilet and bathroom needs," "Death, moral loss," "Communication problems," and "Physical health problems." The third stage of women's statements for the present time was titled "It is very difficult to start everything from scratch" and includes the theme of "Building the future." Effective disaster preparation is required to reduce women's vulnerability to disasters and enhance the level of damage reduction.