Construction of 53K houses underway in Turkiye’s quake zone: Kurum

he construction of 53,830 housing units has started in Türkiye’s earthquake zone, with the foundations laid for 22,467 so far, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum noted Sunday.

In a message published on his official social media account, Kurum noted that the authorities are continuing to lay the foundations for permanent residences to be built in the provinces affected by the deadly Feb. 6 earthquakes.

Reconstruction of the 11 provinces in the country’s earthquake zone was declared a priority following the 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes that leveled nearly 300,000 buildings and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

Following the earthquakes, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pledged a quick recovery for the quake zones and said the state would complete housing reconstruction within a year.

With the groundbreaking ceremony for the first homes and hospitals to be built in the earthquake areas held on Thursday, Erdoğan said his government will prioritize urban transformation projects. Speaking after the iftar dinner in the southern province of Hatay on the same day, Erdoğan said Türkiye is dealing with the devastating consequences of “one of the greatest” natural disasters in human history.

Kurum, however, shared Sunday the video of the progress on new housing units in Gaziantep’s Islahiye and Nurdağı districts, Adana, Hatay, Adıyaman, Şanlıurfa, Kahramanmaraş and Elazığ and stated that “a new urbanism epic” would be written in 11 provinces with the revival and construction process.

The ministry highlighted that the initial phase, with the participation of Erdoğan, saw the laying of foundations for 17,902 homes. They added that within a year, 319,000 homes will be constructed across the 11 provinces.

The statement also noted that the restoration and construction process for earthquake-affected areas was conducted through scientific methods, with careful consideration of the distance to fault lines and the liquefaction of the ground. The settlement plan involved building homes on the most solid ground using a tunnel formwork system and a raft foundation. Additionally, the design of the homes adheres to local architecture, with a maximum height above the ground floor extending only three or four floors.

The Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change earlier noted that the ground surveys had been carried out at 154 points across the earthquake zone to build ”resilient cities” and new communities for the survivors.

Kurum, who talked to the reporters during the visit and field examinations in Gaziantep’s Nurdağı district on Wednesday, noted that works on the reconstruction would be carried out in the stages, adding that the first phase for building a total of 319,000 houses in 11 provinces would start as promised – within two-three months. “Then, we will be carrying out the construction of 650,000 houses, step by step, both in our city centers, our districts, our villages simultaneously,” he noted.

Apart from the initial works on the permanent housing units, efforts for reaching out to earthquake victims in a timely matter are ensured with the installation of temporary shelter units. Updating on efforts on the accommodation provided for the victims in the earthquake zone vice president Fuat Oktay noted last week that works on building more settling units for the earthquake survivors in the region is underway. “To meet the temporary shelter needs of our citizens after the ‘disaster of the century,’ the tent and container installations that we started in the region from the first moment continue uninterruptedly,” he said.

Earlier this month, the Turkish Parliament approved a new law proposal aimed at creating the disaster reconstruction fund. The fund will oversee the allocation of resources for the restoration of infrastructure and superstructures in areas affected by various natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, fires and landslides in regions that have been classified as “disaster zones.”

Over 50,000 people have died in the pair of powerful earthquakes that struck 11 Turkish provinces – Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Şanlıurfa.

Over 13.5 million people in Türkiye have been affected by the quakes as well as many others in northern Syria.