Erdogan: We’ll build 200,000 homes as a compensatory for the earthquake victims
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced, after touring the earthquake-affected areas in the stricken Hatay state, that they aim, in the first phase, to allocate 100,000 prefabricated homes in the earthquake zone, with the possibility of increasing the number to 200,000 if necessary.
Erdogan confirmed that the authorities have provided shelter to date for one million and 684,000 citizens affected by the devastating earthquake that struck the south of the country.
He stated that 65,000 pre-fabricated houses will be transferred to Kahramanmaraş soon to accommodate the afflicted.
“Within one year, citizens living in tents and prefabricated houses will be transferred to permanent apartments,” he added.
He pointed out that 114,834 people have been rescued from under the rubble to date, explaining that work to determine the extent of damage is about to be completed in the earthquake areas.
Erdogan confirmed that the country’s government will take the first step to build 200,000 homes in 11 states next March.
He pointed out that about a third of Kahramanmaraş has become uninhabitable due to the double earthquake.
Erdogan pledged to start building 3,750 apartments in the state of Elazig, 2,500 in Adana, and 250 apartments in Kilis, starting next March.
He also pledged to start building during the same month 40,000 and 426 apartments in the state of Hatay, 45,670 in Kahramanmaraş, 25,882 in Adiyaman, and 18,544 in Gaziantep.
With regard to the work of removing rubble in the earthquake areas, the Turkish President revealed the removal of the rubble of more than 71,000 independent housing units within about 21,000 completely collapsed buildings in all areas of the earthquake.
In addition, the residents of 412,000 housing units within 118,000 collapsed buildings have been evacuated or must be urgently demolished or have significant damage, according to what Erdogan announced.
Regarding the destruction of some historical places in Hatay, Erdogan stressed that the state will rebuild those civilizational edifices, especially the Hatay Association building, according to its original form, and will restore what was damaged.
On Monday, the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) announced that the number of victims of the double earthquake in the south of the country had risen to 41,156.
AFAD confirmed in a press conference that 6,414 aftershocks have occurred so far, stressing that they have prohibited residents from entering severely damaged buildings that must be demolished quickly.
