ANTAKYA\/ANKARA, Turkey
\nTurkey has begun initial work to rebuild homes following this month\u2019s devastating earthquakes, a government official said on Friday, as a U.N. Development Program (UNDP) estimated 1.5 million people have been left homeless.
\nMore than 160,000 buildings containing 520,000 apartments collapsed or were severely damaged in the Feb. 6 earthquakes that killed more than 43,500 people in Turkey and nearly 6,000 in neighbouring Syria.
\nFacing an election within months, President Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to rebuild homes within a year, although experts have said the authorities should put safety before speed. Some buildings that were meant to withstand tremors crumbled in the latest earthquakes.
\n\u201cFor several projects, tenders and contracts have been done. The process is moving very fast,\u201d the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding there would be no compromise on safety.
\nThe initial plan is to build 200,000 apartments and 70,000 village houses at a cost of at least $15 billion, he said. U.S. bank JPMorgan had estimated rebuilding houses and infrastructure will cost $25 billion.
\nErdogan\u2019s government has endured a wave of criticism over both its response to the devastation and what many Turks say were years of non-enforcement of construction quality control.
\nThe UNDP said it estimated that the destruction has left 1.5 million people homeless, with 500,000 new homes needed.
\nIt said it had requested $113.5 million from the $1 billion in funds appealed for by the United Nations last week, adding that it would focus this money on clearing away mountains of rubble.
\nThe UNDP estimates that the disaster had produced between 116 million and 210 million tons of rubble, compared with 13 million tons of rubble after the earthquake in northwest Turkey in 1999.
\nTurkey also issued new regulations under which companies and charities can build homes and workplaces to donate to the urbanisation ministry for people in need.
\nMany survivors have left the region of southern Turkey that was hit by the quake or have been settled in tents, container homes and other government-sponsored accommodation.
\nIn Antakya, Saeed Sleiman Ertoglu, 56, loaded up what remained of his stock from his waterpipe shop that was not damaged.
\n\u201cThe glassware was very beautiful, more than usual, but then we had this (earthquake), and it all got ruined,\u201d he said, after his home and shop survived the first tremors but not the later one. He estimated that just 5% of his merchandise survived.
\n\u201cWhat can we do?,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is an act of God, and God\u2019s will always bears gifts.\u201d
\nAdditional reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun, Huseyin Hayatsever and Mehmet Dinar; Writing by Humeyra Pamuk and Mike Georgy, Editing by Edmund Blair, Daren Butler and Nick Macfie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ANTAKYA\/ANKARA, Turkey Turkey has begun initial work to rebuild homes following this month\u2019s devastating earthquakes, a government official said on Friday, as a U.N. Development Program (UNDP) estimated 1.5 million people have been left homeless. More than 160,000 buildings containing 520,000 apartments collapsed or were severely damaged in the Feb. 6 earthquakes that killed more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315908,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-315901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n