President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan flew to Osmaniye from the capital Ankara, resuming his tour of earthquake-hit provinces Tuesday. He was accompanied by Devlet Bahçeli, head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) – who hails from the southern Turkish province.
Speaking at a disaster coordination center in Osmaniye, Erdoğan reiterated his concerns about the tragedy, saying it was "beyond description." "In Osmaniye alone, we lost 1,000 people and another 2,606 citizens were injured. This is the biggest earthquake we have suffered from. As the state and nation, we are trying to heal our wounds and cling to life again. We mobilized all our resources for our cities (affected by the earthquakes)," he explained.
The president noted that they started taking steps for building permanent residences for displaced victims of the earthquakes and "God willing," all citizens who lost their homes will be settled in their new homes within one year. He said the rebuilding will not only cover the cities but also villages and they would build thousands of houses for villagers displaced by the earthquakes.
Erdoğan noted that earthquakes showed the necessity of "urban transformation," an ambitious government project to replace decrepit buildings that cannot endure high-magnitude earthquakes. "Urban transformation is a must. I plead to our nation (to approve it) so we won't have to pay a price in the future during such disasters," he said, referring to an objection to urban transformation projects in some cities. He pointed out that apartment buildings constructed by the Housing Development Administration (TOKI) did not collapse in the Feb. 6 earthquakes. TOKI oversees urban transformation projects across the country. "People thank us for urban transformation," he highlighted.
The president also pledged to hold those who caused the collapse of buildings during the earthquakes accountable. "We will not show mercy to anyone," he said. Authorities have detained or arrested scores of people, from contractors to engineers, who worked in the construction of collapsed buildings. Investigations are underway over allegations that builders used material not resistant to earthquakes.
Erdoğan and Bahçeli also visited Nurdağı and Islahiye, two of the worst-hit districts of Gaziantep province. This is Erdoğan's second visit to the region in weeks since deadly earthquakes devastated many buildings on Feb. 6, burying thousands of people under the rubble.
"The number of houses that we will start constructing in March in 11 quake-hit provinces will be around 270,000," he told reporters in the Nurdağı district.
"We will rebuild and strengthen Gaziantep while preserving its historical identity and demographic structure," he added.
Erdoğan then visited the Islahiye district and announced that they have signed the first contracts for areas where geological and ground analyses have been completed.
"The construction process of a total of 1,797 residences, including 456 in Nurdağı, 399 in Islahiye, 645 in the city center of Kilis, and 287 in Kahta, Adıyaman, begins tomorrow," he said.
The president said earlier that Türkiye would swiftly start reconstruction in provinces affected by what he dubbed as the "disaster of the century," presumably in early March, and pledged to reconstruct thousands of houses for displaced victims within one year. Until then, prefabricated housing units will accommodate homeless locals who prefer to stay in their hometowns. A large number of people have already left disaster-hit provinces, taking shelter with their relatives in other cities, staying at hotels offering free accommodation or elsewhere.
