Emergency Justification

JUSTIFICATION FOR EMERGENCY REVIEW
Crisis Assistance Request Form - Turkiye, 0MB Number 1405-XXXX.

On Monday, February 6, 2023, a devastating earthquake occurred in the Southeast
region of Turkey, near Gaziantep. That afternoon, a separate 7.5 magnitude
earthquake struck near Elbistan, in Kahramanmaras. U.S. Mission Turkiye remains
fully staffed, however, it has deferred all non-essential travel to the areas affected by
the earthquake. Large aftershocks are expected to occur for at least a week, if not
longer. Furthermore, Turkiye estimates there are 17,000 dead with thousands injured,
and infrastructure is severely damaged in affected areas. U.S. citizens are among the
potentially injured, homeless, or destitute in the following regions: Adana, Adiyaman,
Batman, Bingo!, Bitlis, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Gaziantep, Hakkari, Hatay,
Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malayta, Mardin, Mersin, Mus, Osamiye, Sanliurfa, Simak,
Siirt, Tunceli, and Van.
Subsequent to those actions, as reflected in a February 6 press statement from the
Secretary of State and a February 6 Travel Alert, the Department has taken further
steps to advise U.S. citizens of travel options to depart affected areas, to include costfree air travel from Adana, Sanliurfa, Adiyaman, Elazig, Diyarbakir and Gaziantep.
With respect to U.S. citizens in Turkiye, the Department's primary role is to keep the
U.S. citizen community informed of safety and security developments. The
Secretary's press statement and most recent alert advises U.S. citizens in Turkiye who
wish to travel out of affected areas and require assistance to contact the U.S. embassy
in Ankara so that the Department may better understand and effectively communicate
with them about individual consular assistance they may need. Additionally, the
Department has advised U.S. citizens needing food and shelter to seek support at
various Turkish relief shelters located in affected areas. In order to more effectively
assist U.S. citizens directly impacted by this natural disaster, the Department intends
to make available an online assistance request form that will be located at
https://cacms.state.govls/crisis-intake.
The Department will use this online form to acquire the most current and accurate data
possible to inform our consular assistance efforts. It will allow us to build a true and
timely picture of how many U.S. citizens plan to remain in affected areas ofTurkiye
and support options available. The online form helps avoid unstructured requests for
assistance, such as those that arrive via e-mail messages or via social media. These ad
hoc efforts may not include important information, such as family size and their

biodata, and which often require entry into other systems to facilitate responses. The
proposed online assistance request form is integrated with other elements of the
Department's evolving information technology platform used in crisis-management
situations, enhancing the efficient handling of individual cases.
The Department has therefore determined that:
1. This collection is necessary without allowing for the time normally associated
with a routine submission for review under the provisions of the Paperwork
Reduction Act. The information collection allows the Department to build a
more accurate picture of how many U.S. citizens plan to remain in the affected
areas ofTurkiye and support options available.
2. This collection is essential to the mission ofthe-Oepartment of State, which has
no higher priority than the safety and welfare of U.S. citizens overseas. The
purpose of the collection is to enable the Department to better communicate
with U.S. citizens and LPRs who are in need of assistance in departing Turkiye,
amid continued aftershocks and a breakdown in basic government services
affecting U.S. citizens and others visiting or residing in impacted areas.
3. The use of normal clearance procedures would prevent the Department from
obtaining this information on a timely basis, amid threats of additional
aftershocks and conditions that are unpredictable and may further deteriorate
with little notice.
Due to the ongoing crisis, the Department of State requests OMB's formal emergency
review and approval of this information collection.

Angela Kerwin, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Overseas Citizens Services,
Bureau of Consular Affairs
February 9, 2023
Department ofState.