Hatay

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated on March 27 that they will complete the permanent residences in the earthquake region within a year and build 14,600 small industrial shops and deliver them to the tradesmen, craftsmen and operators in quake-hit regions.

In the southern province of Hatay, which experienced massive destruction in the Feb. 6 earthquakes, construction works have been accelerated so that earthquake survivors could settle into prefabricated temporary housing for the Ramadan Feast.

About 60,000 Syrian refugees have returned to their homeland after the Feb. 6 earthquakes devastated their homes in Türkiye, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on March 27.

"Around 60,000 Syrians living in Türkiye have returned to their own land due to the loss of their homes and relatives," Akar said speaking at a military bordar post in the southern Hatay province.

The 1935 model Cadillac automobile, used by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Türkiye, and exhibited in Anıtkabir for years, has been restored after five years of work.

Expert teams from the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums have recovered 288 artifacts from many historical and cultural buildings that were destroyed in the earthquakes.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on March 24 promised to heal the wounds of the victims of powerful earthquakes that hit Türkiye's southern region and claimed more than 50,000 lives.

"Together we will remove the traces of this disaster," Erdoğan said at a ceremony in quake-hit Hatay province.

A ship called "Karadeniz Lifeship Rauf Bey" will serve as a "floating school" for students preparing for university and high school entrance exams in the quake-hit region.

The Education Ministry will meet the needs of all quake-stricken students preparing for the exams on the ship that will anchor at Iskenderun Port.

Exactly 46 days after the devastating Feb. 6 earthquakes, the first foundations for new housing in the affected provinces were laid on March 23.

Within the scope of efforts to remove tons of rubble following the deadly Feb. 6 quakes, the Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ministry has assessed that some 101 million tons of debris lie in the quake-hit region, 2 million tons of which can be recycled to contribute to the economy, says a senior official.

Some of the citizens in the quake-stricken southern province of Hatay who had to leave the city have started to return one by one.

Mehmet Dönmez, a barber whose workplace was destroyed in the devastating quakes, is one of the people who have returned to their hometown.