Newsletters
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that Türkiye has delivered its 455,000th disaster housing unit to survivors of the Feb. 6, 2023 earthquakes, calling the effort a “major achievement” that few countries could accomplish.
Speaking at a mass handover ceremony in Hatay, Erdogan said the government had surpassed its year-end target as part of what he described as “the largest reconstruction mobilization of the century.”
Erdogan said a total of 455,357 homes and workplaces have now been handed over across 11 earthquake-hit provinces, adding that another 105,179 housing units, village homes and workplaces will be delivered in the coming period.
Of those, 55,681 will be in Hatay, 22,081 in Kahramanmaras, 11,367 in Malatya, and 4,833 in Adiyaman, with smaller numbers planned for Osmaniye, Elazig, Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Diyarbakir, Adana, Kilis, Kayseri, Tunceli and Bingol.
Addressing earthquake survivors after a video presentation, Erdogan said the new homes would open “a brand-new chapter” for families affected by the disaster.
Recalling that the twin earthquakes killed more than 53,000 people, affected 14 million residents and caused economic losses exceeding $150 billion, Erdogan said the government never “succumbed to despair.”
He said about 200,000 architects, engineers and workers are currently employed at 3,481 construction sites across 174 locations in the affected provinces.
Erdogan noted that 250,000 housing units had been delivered nationwide just 40 days earlier and that, with the latest handovers, 153,755 homes and workplaces have now been completed in Hatay alone.
“We didn’t just build houses; we completely renewed the city’s infrastructure,” he said, adding that employment-generating projects, including in the defense industry, have also been launched.
The president said major projects are ongoing in Hatay, including Türkiye’s largest wastewater tunnel and foundation works, along with irrigation and environmental projects aimed at reducing pollution in the Asi River.
Emphasizing unity, Erdogan said Turks, Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Sunnis and Alawites are “one people” and long-standing inhabitants of the region, expressing hope they will continue to live together in peace and harmony.
He also linked domestic recovery to regional stability, saying that after achieving a “terror-free Türkiye,” the country would work toward a terror-free region.
Turkish Communications Director Burhanettin Duran said in a post on NSosyal that the ceremony reflected Türkiye’s strong crisis-management capacity and its “exemplary reconstruction process.”
He said the handover of the 455,000th disaster home symbolized unity, solidarity and the bond of trust between the state and the nation.
Set as preferred source
4 min read
