...

Turkish president attends groundbreaking, breaks fast with quake survivors

Türkiye Materials 23 March 2023 23:17 (UTC +04:00)
Turkish president attends groundbreaking, breaks fast with quake survivors

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spent the first day of Ramadan with earthquake survivors in the Kahramanmaras province, as he inaugurated the groundbreaking ceremony for building houses in the quake-hit province Thursday, Trend reports citing Daily Sabah.

Speaking to earthquake survivors living at the container complex in the Karacasu district, Erdogan said there is no rest or pause until the quake-hit provinces are reconstructed and revived.

"Let's not forget that pain is relieved through sharing. With this understanding, we want to turn Ramadan into a solidarity campaign for the earthquake-stricken areas," he said, adding that municipalities across the country have decided to carry out their Ramadan activities in the quake-hit areas.

The president pledged to heal the wounds caused by last month's massive earthquakes in southern regions of the country.

Citing the government's previous rehabilitation efforts after the series of natural disasters that have occurred in Türkiye such as the wildfires and floods, Erdogan said they will also heal the wounds from the Feb. 6 earthquakes in a short time.

"There is no other country in the world other than Türkiye that can come to the stage of rebuilding in such a short time in the face of a disaster that has caused such severe destruction in such a large area," he told the first groundbreaking ceremony for 17,902 disaster and village houses in southern Kahramanmaras province.

The deadly quakes will not take away Türkiye's will to succeed and its determination to actualize its vision of the "Century of Türkiye" initiative, Erdogan said, adding: "While strengthening our existing organized industries, we are establishing a new organized industrial zone in (Kahramanmaras' district of) Afsin."

"We have rolled up our sleeves to build 77,057 disaster houses and 30,310 village houses in Kahramanmaras after the damage assessments," he added.

Erdoğan reiterated his pledge to hand over quake victims' permanent houses within a year.

Tags:
Latest

Latest