President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday delivered another batch of new homes for earthquake victims in Adıyaman, one of the 11 southern provinces devastated by the 2023 twin tremors.
“Today, we are delivering 2,798 homes to their rightful owners,” Erdoğan told a ceremony in the city, which lost over 8,500 people in the earthquakes.
The Feb. 6 disaster claimed in total more than 53,000 lives in Türkiye, injuring over 100,000 people and displacing millions. It brought down more than 6,000 buildings in Adıyaman alone, including the total destruction of four neighborhoods and dealing severe damage to over 8,000 buildings.
Erdoğan’s government has pledged to build a total of 39,000 homes, 3,400 workplaces and nearly 3,00 barns to some 45,305 right owners in the city.
“The 32,000 homes currently under construction will be delivered to their owners gradually until the end of 2024,” Erdoğan promised, noting that by next year all rightful owners will have their homes and businesses.
The president has spent the week of the disaster’s first anniversary delivering new homes to victims in southern provinces.
He also confirmed that Turkish defense industry companies under the coordination of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) would establish laboratories and production facilities for test infrastructure, cables, connectors and wiring in Adıyaman.
The Family and Youth Fund his government announced last year would prioritize women and youths in disaster-hit cities once it’s operational, Erdoğan added.
Around 38,901 buildings were destroyed by the first 7.8 magnitude tremor and initial aftershocks, which included one of a 7.5 magnitude later that day.
Türkiye has set up 215,224 metal containers to house 691,000 survivors who lost their homes and have been unable to find new accommodation on their own.
As Türkiye marks the first anniversary of the disaster, people living in the hardest-hit regions are grieving deceased family and friends, struggling to rebuild livelihoods and grasping for closure in cases where loved ones are still missing.
A massive rebuilding effort is underway in areas devastated by the quake. The Turkish government is rushing to build more than 300,000 homes for displaced families. Government officials say the new homes being built are designed to withstand strong earthquakes.
