Quake survivors to move to container cities: Kurum

GAZİANTEP

With the damage assessment works in 11 quake-stricken provinces to have been completed to a great extent, the next goal is to move all quake survivor people from tents to container cities within two months, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum has said.

Kurum, who was a guest of Ahmet Hakan’s Tarafsız Bölge program on private broadcaster CNN Türk in the southeastern province of Gaziantep’s Nurdağı district, gave information about the works carried out in 11 provinces where the Kahramanmaraş centered quakes destroyed the lives of millions.

Stating that they managed to reach the quake zones two hours after the earthquake, Kurum said the first step was the search and rescue operations.

Stressing that the installation of tents also started at the same time, Kurum said that over 360,000 tents were set up under the coordination of the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD).

“The next step after setting up tents is to establish temporary container cities. We will move all quake survivors to these areas within two months,” he said.

While referring to the damage assessment works, Kurum said they have completed the damage assessment works in five provinces Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman, Osmaniye and Kilis and that they will complete the works in the remaining cities in a few days.

According to Kurum, they have inspected around 1,701,000 buildings consisting of 5,010,000 independent sections in the earthquake zone.

He added that of these inspected buildings, they determined 277,971 buildings with 817,748 independent sections to have collapsed, heavily damaged, or moderately damaged.

Kurum stated that including the repair work of the moderately damaged structures, they will build 653,178 houses in total.

Noting that there are different plans for each province, Kurum said, “Where the ground is suitable, we will build three to four-story houses. We will also take care of the restoration of the historical buildings in city centers. We will move the areas that are not suitable for on-site construction to the reserve area.”

Stressing that will start the construction of 309,000 houses within two months, Kurum said the new houses will be delivered to quake survivors in a year.