by Burak Akinci
KAHRAMANMARAS, Türkiye, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Three years have passed, yet Volkan Dalyan, a geological engineer from Kahramanmaras, a province in southern Türkiye, still can't shake the memory of that dawn on Feb. 6, 2023.
"Most people were still asleep when the house suddenly started shaking," Dalyan recalled. "I realized it was an earthquake." With his wife and child, he rushed out of the house, narrowly escaping a disaster that would claim over 53,000 lives.
But several of his relatives and close friends weren't so fortunate, ultimately falling victim to the catastrophe.
The Feb. 6, 2023 earthquakes devastated vast stretches of southern Türkiye. The tremors struck in the early hours of the morning, when a 7.7-magnitude quake hit 11 provinces in southern Türkiye and parts of northern Syria.
Hours later, a second earthquake, measuring 7.6 in magnitude, followed, compounding the destruction. Entire neighborhoods were reduced to rubble, infrastructure lay in ruins, and hundreds of thousands were left without shelter in the brutal winter cold. More than 14 million people across Türkiye were directly affected.
Over the past three years, Dalyan and millions of others in Türkiye have been struggling to rebuild and recover from the disaster. Reconstruction has unfolded on a massive scale, with new quake-resistant homes and workplaces rising from the rubble.
Türkiye is now nearing what officials call the final stage of its extensive reconstruction effort.
At a news conference in November, Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum said rebuilding across the region was progressing at an unprecedented pace.
"We are working with extraordinary coordination that will set an example for the world," Kurum said, pointing to a nationwide mobilization carried out by the Housing Development Administration of Türkiye to accelerate reconstruction, involving nearly 200,000 workers at around 3,500 construction sites.
According to the minister, Türkiye has invested roughly 75 billion U.S. dollars in reconstruction across the affected provinces.
He said 70 percent of the planned housing has already been completed, allowing two out of every three affected families to return to permanent homes.
On the ground, however, the picture is more complex.
"While some newly built homes have already been handed over to their rightful owners, many projects remain under construction, with about a year of work still ahead," Dalyan noted. Housing, he emphasized, is just one part of the challenge.
According to Türkiye's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority, over 715,000 buildings were affected by the quakes. Most impacted structures were residential buildings, necessitating the construction of 680,000 new housing units.
"It's not only homes. About 75 percent of the infrastructure of Kahramanmaras was destroyed," Dalyan said, referring to water networks, sewage systems and roads. "Repairs are still ongoing."
While acknowledging the enormity of the effort, he also highlighted the persistent gaps that remain.
"Türkiye is trying to rebuild as much as it can after a major catastrophe. However, there is still a housing problem, even though fewer survivors are now living in containers," he said.
Similar sentiments are echoed in Antakya, the historic city in Hatay province near the Syrian border that was nearly leveled by the quakes.
Amid rows of new apartment blocks and construction cranes, reminders of loss remain everywhere.
Ali Sahin, a taxi driver who has spent decades navigating Antakya's streets, said daily life is slowly returning, but not without strain.
"The city looks different now," Sahin told Xinhua. "Some people have moved into new homes, others are still waiting in containers given by the authorities. Business is better than last year, but many of my passengers still talk about what they lost," he said.
