More Containers Dispatched for Southeast Turkey as Rubble Clearance Continues

The construction of containers that will serve as homes for many quake survivors in Turkey's southeastern regions is supported by several municipalities that delivered and established the first containers in Kahramanmaraş and Hatay. At the same time, the removal of debris from dozens of thousands of buildings continued on Monday.

According to a written statement from the Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality Sunday, the "container bazaar" will return commercial life to normal in the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaraş is 90% complete.

Memduh Büyükkılıç, the municipality mayor, stated that an extraordinary effort was made for the construction of 90 containers in the bazaar with 150 personnel and 15 construction machines on an area of 5,000 square meters (53,819 square feet).

Emphasizing that the locked parquet works in the areas where the containers are placed are at the stage of completion, Büyükkılıç stated that the bazaar would be put into service in 72 hours after the final works and said that their efforts continue ''day and night'' to return life in the earthquake zone to normal.

"For three days, throughout the night and during the day, our teams are working on finishing the container bazaar as soon as possible. Our team, which will work at our bazaar, which is 90% completed, will continue to work to deliver the project in the next 72 hours,'' he said.

Büyükkılıç emphasized that when the container bazaar, which will be the first in the disaster area, is completed, a vital deficiency will be eliminated with its social facilities.

At the same time, the construction of a 350-container city on 30-acre land in Hatay allocated to the Istanbul Airport operator (IGA) by the Hatay Governorate has come close to the end.