ANKARA: Two years after the deadliest and most destructive earthquake in modern Turkish history, hundreds of thousands of people remain displaced, with many still living in temporary housing, as rebuilding efforts lag behind initial targets.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake on February 6, 2023, and its aftershocks rattled 11 Turkish provinces and parts of northern Syria, killing more than 55,000 people and injuring more than 107,000.
The disaster reduced entire towns to rubble, including homes, hospitals, and historical landmarks, with Hatay, Kahramanmaras and Adiyaman hardest hit.
The government has pledged to build 650,000 homes, with President Tayyip Erdogan promising in the weeks after the tremor that 319,000 would be delivered within a year.
“We are fortunate to have delivered 201,431 independent units to their rightful owners less than two years after the earthquake,” Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting on Monday.
Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum said $75 billion had been spent on rebuilding across the quake region.
The critical phases of reconstruction have been completed, he said, adding that housing and business projects were progressing rapidly.
Many residents, however, remain in makeshift conditions, while others have left their home provinces entirely, disrupting communities and livelihoods.
Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition CHP, said only 30 percent of the pledged reconstruction had been completed. The housing completion rate in Hatay, one of the worst-hit provinces, was only 18 percent, he said.
“Only three out of ten who believed in Erdogan now have homes, while the other seven are still in containers or seeking refuge in the homes of relatives,” Ozel said on Tuesday.
“How can they look into the eyes of those they forced to live in containers for two years and say, ‘We have kept all our promises, thank God’?“
Lingering hardships
International and local aid groups say a full recovery remains far off, with thousands of Turks still facing barriers to returning home.
The Hatay Earthquake Victims’ Association said in a report that more than 400,000 people remain in container-home cities, facing poor sanitation, inadequate health care, and an uncertain future.
It also raised concerns about asbestos exposure from unregulated demolitions and land seizures under emergency decrees.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said that millions of people in Turkiye and Syria were still struggling to rebuild their lives. It called the pace of reconstruction “far too slow” for such a disaster.
Delays in reconstruction hurt long-term stability and risk depopulation of the region, some aid groups say.
In Hatay, in southernmost Turkiye, empty streets, shuttered businesses, and demolition work still define the city, which was once a bustling mixture of cultures and religions, and a draw for tourism.
Ankara says its response to the earthquake has been effective and on track.
Kurum, the government minister, said 423,000 homes and workplaces will be handed over to survivors by the end of 2025, adding that Turkiye had allocated 584 billion Turkish lira ($19 billion) for recovery efforts.
Two years after quake disaster, Turkiye’s painful recovery continues
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Two years after quake disaster, Turkiye’s painful recovery continues
- The disaster reduced entire towns to rubble, including homes, hospitals, and historical landmarks, with Hatay, Kahramanmaras and Adiyaman hardest hit.
Israel operating beyond ceasefire line in Gaza, satellite images suggest
- BBC probe identifies Yellow Line markers hundreds of meters further into Hamas-controlled land than agreed in US-backed deal
- Security expert: Moving of markers, accompanying destruction would reduce swath of Gaza to ‘sterilized belt’
LONDON: Israel has moved the so-called Yellow Line marking the boundary of its area of control within Gaza, satellite images show.
A report by the BBC suggests that Israeli personnel have moved blocks denoting the line of control further inside territory ostensibly controlled by Hamas in at least three areas of Gaza.
The move endangers Palestinians living nearby who have been left unclear where they can move freely, after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned in October that the military would open fire on anyone crossing the Yellow Line.
The line’s markers have been moved further inside Hamas-controlled territory at Beit Lahia, Jabalia and Al-Tuffah, images seen by BBC Verify suggest.
In total, 16 markers were moved in the three areas, at an average of 295 meters beyond their original positions.
The BBC mapped another 205 Yellow Line markers across Gaza, with more than half of them found to have been placed further inside Hamas territory than previously agreed under the US-backed ceasefire plan.
It added that some areas of the Yellow Line — amounting to nearly 10 km in total — remain unmarked almost three months after the ceasefire came into effect, despite Katz’s warning to civilians.
A Palestinian told the BBC that in December Israeli troops moved markers around where he lives, leaving him “trapped” on the Israeli side.
“We are now living inside the Yellow Line, (but) behind the yellow blocks, with no idea what our fate will be,” said the man, whom the BBC did not name for his safety.
“The atmosphere at night is terrifying. We hear shells exploding, soldiers advancing, gunfire, and drones buzzing overhead without pause. We are also being shot at directly.”
The BBC said satellite images showed that Israeli vehicles and personnel frequently crossed the Yellow Line despite the ceasefire agreement prohibiting them from doing so.
It added that armored vehicles had been spotted at Bani Suhaila roundabout in Khan Younis, 400 meters west of the line, in verified footage, and that tanks and heavy machinery had been identified 260 meters beyond the line in Beit Lahia.
The forays into Hamas territory have often been accompanied by demolitions of buildings and infrastructure.
At least 69 incidents have been identified by the BBC since the ceasefire came into effect of Israeli troops shooting at Palestinian civilians in the vicinity of the Yellow Line.
They include an airstrike on a school building on Dec. 19 in Al-Tuffah, which was 330 meters inside the Yellow Line on the Hamas side, but which was close to a marker denoting the line that had been moved from where it should have been. The strike killed five people, local authorities said.
In Jabalia on Dec. 10, 17-year-old Zaher Nasser Shamiya was shot and run over by an Israeli tank on the Hamas side of the Yellow Line, his father said.
“The tank turned his body into pieces … It came into the safe area (west of the Yellow Line) and ran over him,” he told the BBC.
In November, two children were reportedly killed west of the line while out gathering firewood for their family.
Middle East security expert Prof. Andreas Krieg told the BBC: “By keeping the legal line on the map and the physical blocks hundreds of meters apart, Israel preserves the ability to shift where Gazans may live, move and farm without ever formally announcing a change of border.”
On Wednesday, Israel is due to begin withdrawing from more parts of Gaza under the terms of the US plan, but no timeline has been put in place as yet.
Krieg warned that Israel’s continued moving of the Yellow Line markers and the accompanying destruction would reduce a swath of Gaza to a “sterilized belt.”
He told the BBC: “In practice, that means the status of land is less about what the ceasefire map says and more about where concrete blocks sit on a given day.”
