THE earthquake of February 6, 2023which hit the southeast Turkeycaused death 53,537 people and injuring 107,213 – it was the worst disaster in modern Turkish history.

The earthquake struck 11 provinces which is one of the poorest in Turkey and 14 million Turks.

In total more than 100,000 buildings2.3 million were damaged and 700,000 people are still living in shipping containers.

Then President Erdogan, campaigning for re-election, had promised 650,000 new homes within the year.

Eleven months later, according to the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning, construction has begun on half of them and 46,000 are ready to be delivered.

Yesterday, Saturday, the head of state delivered to Hatay the keys of the first 7,000 homes in families with draw.

“The goal is to deliver 15,000 to 20,000 homes per month,” he promised. “It is impossible for us to bring back the lives that were lost, but we can compensate for your other losses,” he said to officials and survivors.

The head of state, who also inaugurated a 200-bed hospital in Alexandretta (Iskenderun), on the coast of Hatay, called on his fellow citizens to “trust the state and trust him”.

Today he will travel to Gaziantep and on Tuesday to Kahramanmaras, a stronghold of his party, the AKP, whose residents voted en masse last May for his re-election.