Large-scale construction process to be launched in Turkey following quakes

More than 232,000 buildings were severely damaged or should be demolished immediately in southern Türkiye after powerful tremors struck the region on February 6, the country’s environment minister Murat Kurum said.

“We have determined that 232,632 buildings, including 651,416 independent sections, were severely damaged or will be immediately demolished or due to quakes,” Kurum said at a meeting in the Malatya province.

The minister said they examined more than 1.7 million buildings composed of over 5.7 million independent sections in the quake-hit provinces of Turkey.

The damage assessment was completed in Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Adiyaman, Osmaniye, and Kilis provinces, he added. 

"We started the process of constructing disaster houses as part of the biggest disaster housing construction campaign in the history of the Turkish Republic ... We will build a total of 66,230 houses and 21,549 village houses in Malatya,” he elaborated.

In the light of science, the authorities designate the right place with experts and local governments and start the construction process, he added.

The construction of 27,849 houses in the region will start by March 9, Kurum said, adding, they will commence the construction of 309,000 houses in all quake-hit provinces in the next two months.