Local trade to be revived in quake-hit provinces

Hanife Baş - ISTANBUL

While efforts are ongoing to adequately meet the needs of those living in tents and container cities in the earthquake-stricken provinces, measures are also being taken to revive local trade as part of the normalization process and pave the way for the public to meet their own needs as they see fit.

Alp Önder Özpamukçu, chairman of the Food Retailers Association (GPD), which includes national chains such as Migros, BİM and A101, said the feedback they had received from the region showed that people wanted to meet their own needs as soon as possible.

“It is vital that local businesses in the region get back on their feet quickly, and we are working with all stakeholders to achieve this,” Özpamukçu said.

“This is important for both local and national businesses to participate and for people to return to their normal lives. We believe that these steps should be taken quickly for the recovery of the region, as trade will pave the way for people to meet their needs in their own way,” he added.

Özpamukçu also noted that the situation in the earthquake zone is far from normal at the moment.

“We are seeing customer demand for personal care and hygiene products as well as food,” he said.

“We are working to rebuild the region by repairing the damage in the supply chain.”

Özpamukçu noted that it is important to revive job-creating sectors with incentives, both to maintain existing jobs and to attract people who have left the region to return.

“In addition, it seems important, within the framework of the plans to be defined by the public institutions, to open shops in temporary shelters, container cities and suitable places in new urban centers, ensuring that these areas become living centers,” he said.

“We believe that these plans are very important in order to revive local trade and to meet the needs of the population in the most appropriate way.”

GPD member national supermarket chains in January had 4,121 stores in the 11 provinces hit by the earthquakes, Özpamukçu said, adding that 1,073 of them were destroyed.

“Those stores that were undamaged and able to open continued to operate as much as possible from day one to avoid disruption to customer needs, despite the fact that our employees were also earthquake victims,” he noted.

The association chairman said they had asked the authorities to speed up building evaluation processes to be able to reopen slightly damaged stores.

“Despite the massive influx of aid into the region, we are working to open as many shops as possible so that people can meet their own needs,” Özpamukçu added.

“We are continuing our efforts to open tent or container markets near temporary shelters.”