Emergency rehabilitation of irrigation systems damaged by the earthquake for disaster affected communities in Maskana, Aleppo. ltpgtOn Monday the 6th of February, two major earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 hit southern Turkey and Northern Syria. The earthquake caused a large number of casualties and widespread destruction of infrastructure and civilian buildings. Moreover, this disaster happened at a time when the humanitarian community in Syria was already struggling to respond to the large numbers of people in need (15.3M across Syria, HNO 2023). The earthquake has also further damaged the already vulnerable irrigation systems, affecting agricultural productivity, which is the key source of livelihoods and income for many smallholder farmers.lt/pgtltpgt ltbrgtThus, the FSA sector recommends emergency irrigation rehabilitation following earthquake damage to infrastructure in Aleppo. ZOA already has previous experience with irrigation canal rehabilitation in Maskana in Aleppo and has good existing relations with local authorities, General Organization for Land Development (GOLD) who is responsible for the maintenance and operations of the irrigation canals, and beneficiary communities. The ZOA team conducted a KII and rapid technical assessment (both uploaded to the system, and key findings outlined below).lt/pgtltpgt  ltbrgtBased on the assessment findings, ZOA is proposing the following activities:ltbrgt1.	Cleaning and rehabilitation of the main box concrete irrigation canal with a length of about 10 km. As a result of the earthquake, new cracks have appeared and the canal has shifted in several places, causing additional water leakage. There are also some cavities that could lead to the collapse of the canal if not urgently repaired.ltbrgt2.	Cleaning and filling the joints of the main concrete cladded canal from the main pumping station on the Euphrates River to the facility with its seven main water gates, where the joints and the gates have been affected by the earthquake and large amounts of water are leaking and causing further damage to the canals.ltbrgt3.	Cleaning the open main collector of the drainage canals 'D2' with a length of 10 km, which is blocked due to a bridge collapse near Jeb Al Hamam village. The bridge collapsed during the crisis, but further shifted due to EQ and is now almost completely blocking the drainage canal.ltbrgt4.	 Maintenance or rehabilitation of siphons which have been affected by the EQ. The siphons are from concrete and they are embedded underground. During the assessment conducted by ZOA team and the farm manager, there were indications that the siphons are shifted or damaged, which could cause total destruction of the connections between the canals. At least 15 siphons should be repaired or replaced.ltbrgt5.	Rehabilitation of the hanged irrigation canals in the facility, where the EQ affected the concrete irrigation hanged canals, some bases has shifted from their places, and the canals and their joints has additional cracks causing water leakages which might lead to further damages in the canals if not urgently maintained. In total, patches requiring repair across around 15 km of hanged canals will be repaired benefitting more than 800 hectares.lt/pgtltpgtltbrgtAddressing these needs will help to revitalize the agriculture sector in the area post-earthquake and will ensure water preservation. This will enable farmers to scale up farming activities and improve livelihoods, thereby contributing to the overall recovery of the region. ltbrgtlt/pgt