Erdogan vows to rebuild Türkiye's quake-hit southern region
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a total of 650,000 houses will be built in the country's south, where twin earthquakes of magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 affected more than 13.5 million people.
Türkiye plans to construct enough buildings in a year to meet the needs of the quake victims, says Erdogan.
The Turkish president has vowed to rebuild the country's southern region in the wake of powerful earthquakes last month that claimed the lives of more than 50,000 people.
"Our aim is to raise up the earthquake zone," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday after a dinner with earthquake victims in Istanbul, a special iftar fast-breaking meal for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Türkiye plans to construct enough buildings in a year to meet the needs of the quake victims, Erdogan said, adding that 319,000 houses would be built in the first year and 650,000 in total.
He also promised to heal the wounds of the victims.
On February 6, magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck 11 Turkish provinces – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.
More than 13.5 million people in Türkiye have been affected by the quakes, as well as many others in northern Syria.
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