The construction of containers that will serve as homes for many quake survivors in Türkiye's southeastern regions is supported by several municipalities that delivered and established the first containers in Kahramanmaraş and Hatay. At the same time, the removal of debris from dozens of thousands of buildings continued on Monday.
According to a written statement from the Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality Sunday, the "container bazaar" (''konteyner çarsı'') will return commercial life to normal in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaraş is 90% complete.
Memduh Büyükkılıç, the municipality mayor, stated that an extraordinary effort was made for the construction of 90 containers in the bazaar with 150 personnel and 15 construction machines on an area of 5,000 square meters (53,819 square feet).
Emphasizing that the locked parquet works in the areas where the containers are placed are at the stage of completion, Büyükkılıç stated that the bazaar would be put into service in 72 hours after the final works and said that their efforts continue ''day and night'' to return life in the earthquake zone to normal.
"For three days, throughout the night and during the day, our teams are working on finishing the container bazaar as soon as possible. Our team, which will work at our bazaar, which is 90% completed, will continue to work to deliver the project in the next 72 hours,'' he said.
Büyükkılıç emphasized that when the container bazaar, which will be the first in the disaster area, is completed, a vital deficiency will be eliminated with its social facilities.
At the same time, the construction of a 350-container city on 30-acre land in Hatay allocated to the Istanbul Airport operator (IGA) by the Hatay Governorate has come close to the end.
According to the statement made by IGA last weekend, works on healing the wounds in Hatay after the quakes dubbed as the "disaster of the century" continue rapidly. At the same time, the container city, which is planned to be opened at the start of March, will be a home for 350 families.
Some 20 containers were also sent on the road late Sunday from Konya Metropolitan Municipality to be set up in the Antakya district of Hatay, one of the worst affected areas after the Feb. 6 earthquakes.
Late Sunday, Hatay Governor's Office announced that the wreckage of 173 buildings would be removed as of Monday, and the first works on clearing the ruble started early morning.
In the statement made by the governor's office, it was reiterated that debris removal works have started in the buildings destroyed due to the earthquake disaster on Feb. 6.
"The residents of the building will be able to accompany the debris removal works if they wish. Furthermore, the updated list of buildings regarding the debris removal works to be carried out in the coming days will be shared on the website of our governorship," the governorshıp statement said.
Meanwhile, the people in the region are looking forward to normalization after the quakes, as owners of a few local businesses in Kahramanmaraş, the epicenter of the Feb. 6 quakes, in their interview with Anadolu Agency (AA) on Monday shared that with approval of officials they have opened some of their ovens and stores that sell regional foods.
At the same time, a teacher couple working in the Samandağ district of Hatay turned one of the containers into a classroom and started teaching students preparing for the high school entrance exam.
In the container classroom where eight teachers teach, many students make an effort for the exam. Sibel Gümüş, who founded the container classroom with her husband Erhan Gümüş, said, "Children have fear in their eyes, but there is also great hope. When you look into their eyes, you forget everything."
