As millions mourned the victims of the Feb. 6 earthquakes in southeastern Türkiye that killed over 53,000 people, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was in Kahramanmaraş, at the epicenter of the catastrophe dubbed the "disaster of the century" due to its sheer devastation. Erdoğan's visit had the ambitious purpose of settling in people who lost their homes in the disaster as quickly as possible. He delivered keys to new houses built by the state to survivors.

Speaking at a ceremony there, Erdoğan said the earthquakes that affected 11 provinces were one of the most devastating in the history of mankind. "More than 90% of buildings were constructed in construction standards in force before the 1999 earthquakes and this aggravated the disaster," Erdoğan said.

"Our nation passed the test of solidarity, they overcame the disaster of the century with the solidarity of the century. There are few countries which can stand strong against such a disaster. Even the most developed countries were desperate in the face of similar catastrophes. Thank God, we made cities recover in a brief time. Feb. 6 is a day for commemoration of earthquake victims but also a date we strengthened our solidarity against disasters. We will seek ways to build more resilient cities with lessons learned from the disaster," he said.

The president said that they would always remember the first responders who braved the cold and exhibited "superhuman" strength to help the victims. He also lauded the survivors who tried to help those other than their families despite their losses.

He underlined that the state was mobilized immediately after the earthquakes. More than 35,000 people, from across Türkiye and abroad involved in professional search and rescue work after the disaster, Erdoğan highlighted. "Some 39,000 buildings were collapsed in disaster-hit areas and the region needed emergency search and rescue for about 26,000 among them. We run history’s biggest search and rescue operation. We dispatched some 20,000 vehicles to the region and 123 vessels (to help remove debris, search and rescue and evacuation) for uninterrupted assistance. Every person rescued from the rubble blossomed the hopes of our nation. We evacuated some 3.5 million citizens seeking to move in with their relatives in other cities," he said.

He stated that they rapidly started construction of permanent housing for survivors and handed over the keys to the first houses for survivors in Hatay and Gaziantep provinces. "Today, we are drawing lots for new owners of 9,000 houses here in Kahramanmaraş. In addition, 20,000 houses are under construction in Kahramanmaraş," Erdoğan, who will travel to Şanlıurfa and Adıyaman provinces on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively for delivery of more houses, said. The president has earlier said that some 200,000 residential units for earthquake victims would be ready within 2024. "This number will be increased to 390,000 later," he said on Tuesday. He noted that they earmarked some 107 billion Turkish liras (about $3.5 billion) for disaster-hit regions.

As for Kahramanmaraş, an economic hub before the disaster, Erdoğan pledged more investments to the province. "We will make it the second defense, aviation and aerospace industry hub after Ankara," Erdoğan said, citing that defense company TUSAŞ was constructing a factory here for aviation parts. He stated that parts of the ANKA unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) would be manufactured in the province.