Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced today that Turkey’s death toll from massive earthquakes in February has risen to 48,448 as authorities try to build “container cities” to house homeless earthquake victims.

The total number of people killed in Turkey and Syria exceeded 54 thousand people.

Speaking at a press conference in Malatya, one of the provinces hit by the quakes, Soylu said 6,660 foreign nationals, mostly from Syria, were among the dead, adding that authorities were still trying to identify 1,615 victims.

More than 115,000 people in Turkey have been injured by the massive earthquake and strong tremors, and millions have taken refuge in tents or are trying to move to other cities. President Tayyip Erdogan has promised to rebuild the houses within a year, but it will be many months before thousands of people can leave their makeshift dwellings and daily food queues and settle into permanent housing.

Soilu said the government plans to install 115,585 containers for an equal number of families in 239 locations throughout the earthquake-hit area. According to him, to date, 23 sites have been organized and 21,000 containers have been installed, in which 85,000 people live. The minister said that 433,536 tents and 354 stations had been erected since the earthquake, adding that new temporary jobs would be provided to businesses over the next 10 days.

During a visit yesterday to Hatay, one of the hardest hit areas, Erdogan announced that Qatar has pledged to send 10,000 containers that were used during the World Cup late last year.

Soylow said 36,257 buildings collapsed and 5,321 buildings were demolished, while 6,000 of the 18,219 buildings considered demolished were demolished and demolished. He stated that collapsed buildings and those deemed immediately demolished accounted for 25% of them, while the remaining 75% were buildings that suffered severe damage and were due for demolition.

Source: RES-IPE