Turkish president reiterates resolve to heal wounds of earthquake victims

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday reiterated his resolve to heal the wounds of the victims of twin earthquakes that hit the country's southern region on Feb. 6 and claimed more than 50,000 lives.

"I hope we will heal our wounds as soon as possible. We will restore our cities destroyed by the earthquakes," Erdogan said at a ceremony in Istanbul.

Türkiye plans to construct enough buildings in a year to meet the needs of the quake victims, Erdogan said, adding that 319,000 houses would be built in the first year and 650,000 in total.

Magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes struck 11 Turkish provinces – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa.

Around 14 million people in Türkiye have been affected by the quakes, as well as many others in northern Syria.