ANKARA: Minister of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change Murat Kurum announced on Friday that a total of 84,726 buildings were damaged in the Feb. 6 earthquakes, which wreaked havoc in 10 provinces in Türkiye’s south. The minister was speaking at a disaster response center in Adana, one of the 10 provinces.
Kurum said crews from his ministry examined 684,000 buildings in the earthquake-hit provinces so far and said 84,726 buildings were found to be either collapsed, heavily damaged or in immediate need of demolition. He added that they deployed more than 7,300 personnel in provinces to examine the damage and in Adana alone, 148 buildings were in this category. He urged locals to stay away from heavily damaged buildings due to the risk of collapse, even if they might want to retrieve their possessions.
Earlier, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that they would start the rebuilding of new residences in March and aimed to complete the construction within one year. Kurum told reporters that simultaneous public tenders will be held in early March and the country’s housing development authority TOKI would oversee the construction.
He pointed out that more than 1.1 million residences built by the authority stood strong despite earthquakes, and their newly constructed buildings will be as sturdy as well. –Agencies
