Türkiye providing shelter to nearly 1.6M people in quake-hit area

ANKARA

Türkiye has provided shelter to nearly 1.6 million people who were affected after the Feb. 6 strong earthquakes in the southern region, the country's disaster agency said on Thursday.

"Shelter service is provided to 1,593,808 citizens in the disaster area and 329,960 citizens in other provinces," the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) said in a statement.

A total of 332 tent cities and 360,167 tents were set up in the earthquake zone, AFAD said.

"In the provinces affected by the earthquake, 189 container cities are being created. The infrastructure and installation work of the planned 90,914 containers continues," it added.

A total of 228,591 personnel, including 4,667 search and rescue personnel, 18,048 construction equipment, 75 aircraft, 108 helicopters are currently working in the region, the agency said.

The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes were centered in Kahramanmaras and struck 10 other provinces – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa. More than 13 million people have been affected by the devastating quakes, claiming more than 45,000 lives.