Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stands with rescue workers as he visits the hard-hit southeastern province of Hatay following two earthquakes on February 20, 2023. Photo: AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday promised to construct nearly 200,000 permanent houses in 11 quake-stricken provinces in the country within a year, adding that his government has mobilised all resources to meet the urgent needs of the victims.
A destructive 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Kurdish city of Kahramanmaras in Turkey on February 6, with its impact also ripping through neighbouring Syria. Another quake followed in both countries hours later. Two other tremors, 6.4-magnitude and 5.8-magnitude, hit the Turkish province of Hatay late Monday.
The first two quakes have killed at least 42,300 people in Turkey, according to the disaster agency and the Turkish interior minister said late Monday that the latest twin quakes killed three people.
Erdogan has recently visited the earthquake-hit areas. He said in Osmaniye province on Tuesday that "Over 1.1 million buildings have been inspected in the region. It was determined that 458,000 independent sections of 139,000 buildings have been demolished, about to be demolished or severely damaged,” reported the state-owned Anadolu Agency.
He added that nearly 200,000 permanent houses will be constructed and the victims will be placed in them within a year.
Adana, Adiyaman (Semsur), Diyarbakir (Amed), Gaziantep(Dilok), Hatay, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa (Riha), and Elazig provinces were affected by the tremors. Over 6,000 aftershock have occurred in the last two weeks.
The new buildings will not exceed four stories, according to Erdogan who said that he has mobilized all government resources to meet the urgent needs of the victims.
Erdogan’s cabinet has come under fire for its late response to the deadly incident. The president has also acknowledged shortcomings.
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