Broken production system, strong community: disaster management experiences of livestock farmers after the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes

Purpose Livestock systems are fundamental to food security, yet post-disaster recovery research frequently overlooks agriculture. On 6 February 2023, two earthquakes struck south-eastern Türkiye and northern Syria, devastating a region central to national livestock production. This study examines how farmers experienced the disaster, managed disruptions and navigated recovery. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative descriptive design captured the experiences of 21 affected livestock farmers through semi-structured interviews in May 2024. Data were analysed via reflexive thematic analysis with data triangulation, and interpreted through global disaster frameworks including the Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards and the Five Domains Model. Findings The central concept “Broken Production System, Strong Community” captures failures participants described across shelter, water, feed, labour and market access, alongside production decline, distress sales and compromised animal welfare. Participants reported that formal aid meaningfully supported registered farmers, that uneven distribution and bureaucratic hurdles limited access for others, and that informal social networks substantially compensated for these limitations; the small insured subset linked coverage to deeper recovery. Originality/value Addressing an empirical gap on livestock recovery after a mega-earthquake, the study shows that agricultural recovery is shaped by the structural mismatch between formal governance mechanisms and the adaptive capacity of informal social capital. It offers “Broken Production System, Strong Community” as an empirically grounded, conditionally transferable analytical tool and, as a producer-informed hypothesis, suggests integrating informal resilience mechanisms into formal disaster governance.