We have not left quake victims alone: Erdoğan

ANKARA

The Turkish people and the government have not left millions of earthquake victims alone as the nation will celebrate the Eid al-Fitr, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, vowing to intensify works for temporary shelters for them in the coming weeks.

“We have not left our earthquake victims on these holy days. We, as the state and the people, are trying to heal the wounds of the disaster of the century with the solidarity of the century,” Erdoğan said in his message on the occasion of the Eid al-Fitr on April 20.

The Islamic world will mark the end of Ramadan on April 21 during a three-day fest.

“Due to the lives we lost during the Feb. 6 earthquakes, we marked Ramadan in a sour way,” Erdoğan said, recalling that more than 50,000 people were killed in the disaster that hit 11 provinces.

Stressing that the government and the people have never abandoned the earthquake survivors despite the ongoing election campaign and other state affairs, Erdoğan said he shared the grief of the survivors during his multiple visits to these 11 cities.

“We have started the construction process of more than 100,000 earthquake-proof houses and village houses. We have laid the foundation for more than 50,000 of them. Our hopes are strengthening as the constructions start after the removal of debris,” Erdoğan suggested.

Life is returning to normalcy in these areas, and local people are re-gaining strength to return to their workplaces, the president said, expressing his belief that more people will be back to their homeland as the conditions will improve.

“We are planning to build 650,000 new homes, of which 507,000 will be residences and 143,000 will be village homes. We will hand over 319,000 of them to their owners within a year. Following the May 14 elections, we will continue the recovery and reconstruction of the region without stopping,” he vowed.