Turkey-Syria Quake Toll Crosses 50K; Turkey to Build Houses for 1.5 Million Homeless

The combined death count in Turkey and Syria earthquake crossed 50,000 with Syria’s latest announced death count of 5,914. Meanwhile, Turkey has started rebuilding houses for over 1.5 million people rendered homeless by the devastating earthquakes.

As per an official estimate, more than 160000 buildings having 520000 apartments collapsed or were severely damaged in the Feb. 6 earthquakes.

President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has promised to rebuild homes for the homeless within a year. Now the homeless are staying in tents. But the shortage of tents is the biggest problem.

The Turkish government’s initial plan now is to build 200,000 apartments and 70,000 village houses at a cost of at least $15 billion.

The UNDP said it estimated that the destruction has left 1.5 million people homeless, with 500,000 new homes needed.

An huge amount of money will be needed to clear the mountains of rubble. The UNDP estimates that the disaster 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.