In Kahramanmaraş, in the southeastern part of Türkiye, keys to 8,626 homes completed after the earthquakes that struck on Feb. 6 last year have been delivered to the rightful owners.
A total of 11,609 housing units, built as village-type houses and as ground plus four and five-story buildings, have been transferred to AFAD for distribution to the rightful owners.
AFAD Kahramanmaraş Provincial Director Tayfun Temur stated to an Anadolu Agency (AA) correspondent that tenders for a total of 41,541 housing units have been completed, including 28,872 urban and 12,669 rural homes, and construction is ongoing.
Emphasizing that the work, initiated upon the directives of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, continues tirelessly day and night, Temur added:
"When we look at the number of rightful owners in Kahramanmaraş after the earthquakes on Feb. 6, 2023, we have 67,858 in housing, 7,849 in workplaces and 1,704 whose barns were completely destroyed. In total, there are 77,411 earthquake victims in the city. The construction of our collective and rural housing is ongoing."
"The lottery draw continues for the completed housing units. As of Sept. 24, 20,764 earthquake victims have received housing in three lottery draws. AFAD has received 11,609 units, keys to 8,626 have been handed over and 4,380 families have moved into their homes," he said.
Temur noted that the evacuation of the container cities established after the earthquake also continues: "As we deliver keys to citizens, the container cities are gradually emptying. We started with 55 container cities across the city, and now there are 46. As we hand over keys to citizens, all these container cities will be evacuated."
Temur explained that all state institutions are on the ground to prevent the earthquake victims from experiencing any hardships, emphasizing that activities aimed at meeting the needs of the earthquake victims are generally carried out through AFAD. While the delivery of completed permanent homes continues, new projects are also being developed to ensure that the victims can maintain their daily lives comfortably and healthily.
"We visit the homes we have delivered as AFAD. Overall, citizens are satisfied with the delivery of homes. The process of citizens moving into their homes continues. God willing, it will be better for the city when all the citizens have delivered keys to settle in and turn on their lights. We will continue the key delivery until the last rightful owner has moved in," he stated.
Ayşe Ogiş, whose home was heavily damaged and destroyed in the earthquake, expressed her gratitude: "Thanks be to our state, we received a new home from TOKİ in the Karacasu Neighborhood in place of our destroyed house. I have received the keys to my home and came to check it out. It feels great. I hope God grants all citizens whose homes were destroyed in the earthquake a new one. I want to complete the missing parts of the house as soon as possible and move in as soon as possible."