After the deadliest quake in its modern history, Türkiye has provided shelter to nearly 1.6 million people who were affected by the strong Feb. 6 earthquakes in the southern region, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said Thursday.
The country provided shelter in the form of temporary settlements such as tents and containers and also established field hospitals, pharmacies and temporary ''tent schools'' in the areas where education had not resumed. At the same time, fieldwork related to rebuilding efforts also began on Thursday in the Pazarcık and Afşin districts of Kahramanmaraş, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum said.
Relief processes that include psychosocial support, warm meals and clothing continue in affected areas with death tolls now reported to be at least 45,089.
Shelters
"Shelter services have been provided to 1,593,808 citizens in the disaster-struck area, and 329,960 citizens in other provinces," the AFAD noted in a statement. Out of 1.6 million people, around 1.4 million are being sheltered in the 360,167 tents that were set up in the earthquake-affected zone, the AFAD added.
''In the tents set up, 1,440,668 citizens are provided with shelter,'' read the statement on the AFAD's official social media account.
"In the provinces affected by the earthquake, 189 container cities are being established. The infrastructure and installation work of the planned 90,914 containers continues," it added.
Post quake-relief
Family, Labor and Social Services Minister Derya Yanık also provided detailed information on the situation in the earthquake-affected zone on Thursday, explaining that donations and supplies for the earthquake victims are being distributed. She also noted that 4,808 personnel from the Disaster and Emergency Social Assistance Teams continue to organize in-kind aid donations with 750 vehicles.
"Currently, we continue to serve citizens with 69 warehouses in earthquake-affected zones and 85 warehouses elsewhere, including 16 at border gates. After this, the donations are stored and delivered to the needy. For this, we quickly implemented social programs. As of today, 205 social programs are serving the earthquake-affected zone," Yanık said.
''We deployed our colleagues from the provinces outside the earthquake-affected zone to the region and started our psychosocial support activities in all 11 provinces at the same time. To date, we have provided and continue to provide psychosocial support services to more than 1 million citizens," she added.
Apart from this, the minister also noted that through the efforts of their ministry, some 213 elderly citizens and 722 disabled individuals have been evacuated from the quake-affected zone, while she emphasized that sign language interpreters were also brought into the area for relevant support.
Evacuations, operations in region
The disaster that affected the lives of more than 13 million people from 11 provinces destroyed or severely damaged 210,000 buildings, Kurum said in a press release late Thursday.
According to officials, nearly 2 million people were evacuated from the region 25 days after the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes, with many of them settling in nearby provinces, including Mersin and Adana.
On Wednesday the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (SHGM) said that through a total of 3,540 flights, operated for evacuating victims between Feb. 6 and Feb. 28, more than 617,500 people left the region. The process was carried out by several airline companies, including national carrier Turkish Airlines (THY), Pegasus, SunExpress, Freebird Airlines, Cortex Aviation, Corendon Airlines and Tailwind Airlines.
At the same time, work on removing rubble and reopening small businesses such as mechanics persist for the purpose of returning to "normal." So far, 19 temporary sites for dumping rubble had been set aside in Hatay, one of the three provinces mostly demolished by the quakes, Reuters cited on Thursday.
A total of 18,048 pieces of construction equipment, 75 aircraft and 108 helicopters are currently in the region, the AFAD noted.