Two days before Türkiye will mark the first anniversary of deadly earthquakes dubbed the 'disaster of the century,' President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited the southeastern province of Gaziantep on Sunday. Erdoğan inaugurated a massive hospital complex there, before the delivery of housing units to survivors of the earthquakes.

The Turkish leader said in a speech at the hospital opening ceremony that they would not rest until earthquake-hit cities are fully recovered, "from infrastructure and superstructure, to rebuilding of city centers and villages." Erdoğan stated that they were rapidly fulfilling their promises to heal the wounds in those cities before the anniversary of the disaster of the century that affected some 14 million people.

The president was expected to attend a ceremony for the delivery of houses for earthquake survivors in Gaziantep’s Islahiye district but he said that he would instead attend it via videolink due to adverse weather delaying his visit.

More than 53,000 people died in two earthquakes on Feb. 6, 2023, and more than 3,900 among them were in Gaziantep.

Erdoğan was in Hatay, one of the worst-hit provinces, on Saturday where he attended the opening of another hospital and handed keys to new houses for earthquake survivors. He is scheduled to visit Kahramanmaraş, at the epicenter of the earthquakes, on Tuesday. Next, he will travel to Şanlıurfa, Adıyaman and Elazığ on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, respectively. There, he will meet earthquake survivors and attend ceremonies for the delivery of their new homes.

Within the week of the anniversary, some 75,000 houses will be delivered to earthquake victims in the region. In Gaziantep, authorities delivered nearly 11,000 houses and 6,000 more people will be accommodated in newly-built housing units soon in the province. Addressing the delivery ceremony via a video message, Erdoğan said they would overcome this challenge through unity. "Türkiye joined together to heal the wounds of the disaster of the century," while acknowledging some problems along the way. "No country, neither in Europe, nor the United States, can overcome the impact of such disasters. But Türkiye managed to overcome them," he said, pointing out to resilience of people. He said Türkiye successfully overcame critical phases in the aftermath of the disaster, from debris removal to rebuilding. He said they worked both on reconstruction and continuing the investments in the region.

The president said Türkiye was also working on urban transformation for cities resilient to disasters. He said more than 255,000 people applied to replace their houses as part of the government-run project, with new, sturdy ones.

Around 38,901 buildings were destroyed by the first 7.8 magnitude tremor and initial aftershocks, which included one with a 7.5 magnitude later that day.

Türkiye has set up 215,224 metal containers to house 691,000 survivors who have lost their homes and been unable to find new accommodation on their own.

As Türkiye marks the first anniversary of the disaster, people living in the hardest-hit regions are grieving deceased family and friends, struggling to rebuild livelihoods and grasping for closure in cases where loved ones are still missing. A massive rebuilding effort is underway in areas devastated by the quake. The Turkish government is rushing to build more than 300,000 homes for displaced families. Government officials say the new homes being built are designed to withstand strong earthquakes.

On Saturday, authorities handed over keys to 7,275 newly completed homes in Hatay. Erdoğan said in Hatay that they would gradually deliver 40,000 houses throughout the region as soon as their construction was completed. Some 75,000 houses will be delivered over the next two months, Erdoğan said, adding that the government planned to deliver a total of 200,000 houses this year.

Around 680,000 homes were destroyed in the earthquake region, Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change Minister Mehmet Özhaseki told reporters on Friday, adding that 390,000 families are registered to receive houses to be built there.

"Tenders for 200,000 apartments were completed, and construction of some of them is going on. Some were finished and deliveries will be made soon. The tender process for approximately 100,000 apartments continues," he said.

For immediate accommodation hours after the earthquake, authorities deployed some 1 million tents to the region, building "tent cities" amid freezing weather. Temporary shelter was provided for about 2.5 million earthquake victims while some 3.5 million people seeking shelter in other cities were evacuated. In the following days, Türkiye started installing prefabricated housing units called "container houses" and the first grouping of containers was inaugurated in Kahramanmaraş on Feb. 20. Presently, 215,224 containers are included in 414 container cities, hosting 691,000 disaster victims. The debris of 60,421 urgently demolished and collapsed structures were successfully cleared within 68 days. For the 200,401 seriously damaged buildings, debris removal reached 166,602, achieving 91% volume clearance to date. Ongoing efforts are relentlessly focused on completing the remaining debris removal processes.