Turkish Vice President announces 1 trillion liras allocation for earthquake relief

Vice President Yılmaz's first stop was the Nurdağı district, which bore the brunt of the earthquake that struck southern Turkey in February. He attended a disaster coordination meeting in the district and gained insight into ongoing relief initiatives.

During his visit, Cevdet Yılmaz inspected the construction site of a housing complex developed by the Housing Development Authority of Turkey (TOKİ) to house those displaced by the earthquake in Nurdağı. He also visited a model apartment in the complex to assess the living conditions of the affected families.

Commenting on the situation, Yılmaz said: "The earthquake disaster directly affected 11 provinces and more than 14 million people. In the current fiscal year, we estimate that the earthquake-related expenses in our central government budget alone will reach 762 billion Turkish Liras. This is a considerable burden on our shoulders. If we take into account the contributions of local governments, the Employment Agency (İş Kur) and the Social Security Institution (SGK), it is expected that nearly 1 trillion liras will be allocated for earthquake relief efforts this year. This is a significant cost, even for the most developed nations. However, we are confident that as a united nation, we will collectively shoulder this burden.

The Vice President's announcement underscores the gravity of the situation and underscores the government's commitment to helping the affected regions and individuals recover from the effects of the earthquake. (ILKHA)