Turkish minister says citizens can live in homes with little or no damage in quake-hit region

Duvar English

Turkish Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum said on Feb. 12 that citizens can enter their homes in quake-hit provinces after checking the damage status via e-Government ("e-Devlet" in Turkish) portal.

Citizens can live in their homes "if there is little or no damage," Kurum said while speaking in a press conference held at the state-run Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) coordination center in Antep province.

Minister Kurum stated that the government is conducting damage assessment analysis country-wide. He added that 6,000 personnel analyzed 171,882 buildings in 10 provinces affected by the quakes.

"24,921 buildings were heavily damaged (due to quakes), and they will be demolished as soon as possible," he added.

Minister Kurum warned citizens that they should not enter their homes to take furniture or live if there is no damage assessment analysis conducted in their buildings.

In 122,279 buildings, there is no or little damage detected by the authorities. "There is no harm for our citizens to live in the analyzed buildings if little or no damage is detected," he said.

As of Feb. 12, the death toll from devastating earthquakes rose to 29,605, with the number of injured standing as 80,278. The number of demolished buildings has been yet recorded as 6,444. 

147,934 people have been evacuated to other provinces.

Some 13.5 million people have been affected in 10 provinces, in an area spanning 1,000 square kilometers in two major earthquakes that struck Turkey’s southeastern region on Feb. 6.