TURKEY: TWO YEARS AFTER EARTHQUAKE, 650,000 PEOPLE STILL LIVE IN CONTAINER HOMES

Two years have passed since the devastating Kahramanmaraş earthquake in Turkey, which claimed the lives of at least 53,537 people. According to a report by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, and Climate Change, a total of 717,614 buildings were damaged.

Latest figures from the Directorate of Communications for the earthquake's second anniversary reveal that as of January 2025, 651,958 people are still living in container cities.

Since the initial days following the earthquake, a maximum of 707,000 earthquake victims were housed in containers. This data indicates that the number of people residing in container cities has decreased by only 7.78% over the past two years.

Hatay Most Affected

With 204 temporary shelter centers, Hatay has the highest number of container cities. As of January 2025, 218,379 people continue to live in these conditions.

Of the 40,586 homes constructed by the state in Hatay as part of reconstruction efforts, only 13,233 have been delivered. However, only 53% (6,994 families) of the families who received keys have actually begun living in these apartments.

Container City Populations in Other Provinces

After Hatay, the provinces with the highest number of container cities are:

• Malatya (75 container cities, 112,726 residents)
• Adıyaman (55 container cities, 118,204 residents)
• Kahramanmaraş (42 container cities, 107,896 residents – half in urban, half in rural container cities)
• Gaziantep (11 container cities, 49,618 residents)
• Osmaniye (5 container cities, 10,141 residents)

Provinces with a single container city include Şanlıurfa (20,668 people), Adana (892 people), Kilis (2,947 people), Diyarbakır (3,753 people), and Elazığ (6,734 people).

Housing Reconstruction and Costs

The "entitlement determination" process, which began on May 30, 2023, as part of the "housing mobilization" launched after the earthquake, was completed on December 25, 2023. During this process, over 845,000 applications were received. Following evaluations, 445,344 eligible households were identified for homes to be built in 11 earthquake-affected provinces.

As of January 24, 2025, the construction of 201,431 homes in the 11 affected provinces has been completed and delivered to the rightful owners. However, only 30.75% of these, or 61,957 homes, have actually been occupied by their rightful owners.

Among the other 10 provinces, Kahramanmaraş, the earthquake's epicenter, has delivered the most keys to 14,378 beneficiaries.

Beneficiaries are still unaware of the final cost of their new homes. They will make payments over 20 years, with the first two years being free, once all homes are completed and the final figures are determined.

Civil engineer Polat Yerlikaya, who worked on the Emlak Konut project as part of the reconstruction, stated: "We held a tender in April 2023. This determined the contract price. The construction square meters are also certain. Based on TURKSTAT data reported monthly during the construction phase, we apply a price difference. After the final acceptance, our actual costs will be determined. These price differences will be added to the contract prices, and a price per square meter will be determined. Based on the final payment of the progress of work, the cost will be determined along with the price differences."