In construction of new houses in the areas affected by the deadly earthquake, said President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his speech. In particular, the president of Turkey announced that they will be built 200,000 apartment buildings in the eleven provinces that were “hit” by the February 6 earthquake.

Within March we start the construction of 40,436 houses in Hatari, in Kahramanmaras the construction of 44,471 houses, in Antiyaman 25,828 houses, in Gaziantep 18,545 houses, in Malatea 44,470 houses, in Osmaniye 9,570 houses, in Diyarbakir 6,000 houses” said the president of Turkey, as reported the correspondent of SKAI from Istanbul, Manolis Kostidis.

It is recalled that the victims in Turkey have exceeded 41,000.

“None of these buildings will be taller than three or four stories,” Erdogan said during a visit to Hatay province, which was hit hard by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 41,000 people in Turkey. It is estimated that at least 118,000 buildings were completely destroyed or severely damaged.

“All buildings will be built from scratch (…) on solid ground and based on correct practices,” the Turkish president insisted, clarifying that construction would begin in March. As he said, these homes will be built away from the tectonic faults and “closer to the mountains, to protect them from the problems created by the soft soils”.

“We will build new Antakia (Antiochia), Iskenderun (Alexandretta) and Arsuz. We will rebuild them from scratch,” he continued, referring to three major cities in Hatay province. “We will start moving our fellow citizens, who are now living in tent and container camps, to their (new) homes within a year,” Erdogan also promised, in his first public statements in six days.

Erdogan also assured that mosques and other places of worship will be built.

The Turkish president, reporting that more than 114,800 people have been rescued from the rubble, also said that state banks will write off the debts of those killed in the earthquake. As he claimed, the housing needs of 1.69 million people have been met so far. About 375,000 earthquake victims were transported to other cities in the country – three-quarters of them by air.