President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday for the construction of new houses in the center and two districts of earthquake-ravaged Kahramanmaraş province, vowing the government would continue to stand beside the survivors of the "disaster of the century."

Speaking via videoconference at the ceremony, Erdoğan recalled that the government’s efforts to rebuild the earthquake-devastated provinces persist approximately six months after the powerful tremors.

Remembering the lives lost to the tremors in early February, the president noted, "We have experienced one of the most devastating natural disasters not only in our country but also in the history of humanity." He also expressed the government’s determination to help rebuild the lives of those affected, stating that, "Immediately after the earthquake, we visited our provinces on different occasions and stated that our state is with you with all its means."

He also noted that the number of houses to be built in the city, together with the village houses and barns, has reached 29,047.

As part of the ceremony, led by Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Mehmet Özhaseki, the groundbreaking marked the beginning of construction for 9,074 residences and 231 workplaces in Kahramanmaraş.

"With the help of the ministry, Türkiye’s Housing Development Administration (TOKI), Emlak Konut and our philanthropists, we are holding groundbreaking ceremonies in seven different areas: three points in the center of Kahramanmaraş, two villages in the Pazarcık district, one village in the Türkoğlu district and a small industrial site in Pazarcık," Erdoğan said via video, adding that 913 of these residences would be built by the beneficiaries.

"In the earthquake zone, a total of 680,000 residences and 170,000 independent sections such as barns, warehouses and workplaces must be built. However, we have never fallen into despair in the face of this heavy picture," Erdoğan said.

Recovery efforts

"While we were conducting field studies from one side, removing the debris from the other, we also stayed close to you," Erdoğan said, adding that according to their findings, approximately one-third of all residences in Kahramanmaraş were rendered uninhabitable following the early February earthquakes.

"The small number of the citizens that are still sheltering in the tents and the facilities will hopefully be moved to container homes by Aug. 15," he added, vowing to deliver the given promises like all earlier promises. He also noted that some 178,500 containers were installed in 325 container cities following the Feb. 6 tremors.

The president noted the construction of the permanent housing units in the region is underway as planned, reiterating the government’s goal of delivering 319,000 housing units to the earthquake survivors within the first year of the earthquakes.

"Until now, we have made tender for around 180,000 buildings, and we have initiated an ‘On-Site Transformation’ project, which was welcomed with high interest among our citizens in the earthquake region," he said.

The project was launched last month to provide grants and financial support to people who want to reconstruct their structures in quake-ravaged areas.

Stating that they have received over 160,000 applications for the mentioned project, the president noted that more than 20,000 Kahramanmraş citizens are among this figure.

"With the On-Site Transformation project, not only will the constructions accelerate, but the economy will revive, new employment areas will be created, the local culture will come to life and the houses will come to life with less cost," the president said.

Highlighting the indispensable role of TOKI in the wake of the earthquakes, the president noted that the organization conducted over 1.2 million projects across Türkiye until now.

"With urban transformation projects, we have built 3.3 million residences all over the country. Thus, it provided safe homes for nearly 20 million people. We aim to rapidly transform some 6.5 million residences across Türkiye. Hopefully, when we complete these, our cities will be both beautiful and more prepared for earthquakes," the president vowed.