All quake-hit cultural structures recovered in 3 years

ANKARA

The Culture and Tourism Ministry aims to complete the work regarding all the cultural structures damaged by the Feb. 6 quakes within three years, a senior official has stated.

A large number of historical and cultural structures were damaged in the twin earthquakes that jolted the southern part of the country in early February.

Some 31 of the 678 cultural structures in the earthquake zone were completely destroyed, 144 were severely, 104 were moderately, 98 were slightly damaged, while 292 works stayed undamaged, and damage detection studies were ongoing in nine cultural assets, said Sinan Aksu, an official from the ministry.

The ministry plans to rise all monuments destroyed in the earthquake within three years, Aksu stated, adding that the process has already begun and are ongoing without slowing down.

“The works on many structures will be completed in a year. However, in total, within three years, all our works will be raised again, and the symbols of our cities will be put back in their places,” Aksu expressed.

Emphasizing the importance of ground surveys and ground consolidation in the reconstruction process of immovable cultural assets damaged in the earthquake, Aksu noted that universities provide technical information to the ministry on this issue.

“We carry out our restoration and reconstruction works meticulously, together with our expert academicians and fellow students at our universities.”

“So far, we have started working on 77 cultural assets. We made our tenders and started rescue excavations,” Aksu noted.

Stating that they have separated all the usable parts of the cultural assets destroyed in the disaster, Aksu added that these original parts will be utilized in the reconstruction processes of the works.

Underlining the importance of the revival of cultural artifacts Aksu said, “Our various institutions and benefactors wanted to be involved in this process and applied to us.”

“There has even been more than one application related to some of our historical monuments. Especially in our Habib-i Neccar Mosque and Grand Mosques, our benefactors competed with each other. We signed our protocols by including them in the restoration works in accordance with the requests of our benefactors,” Aksu said.