Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Thursday that the country's goal is to replace the residential buildings destroyed in the devastating earthquake that hit its southeastern zone within a year.
Speaking to reporters after inspecting the damaged city of Gaziantep, Erdogan said that so far authorities have counted 6,444 destroyed buildings. He added that the government will, after the parliament approves introducing a state of emergency as expected later today, provide all the citizens affected with cash assistance of 10,000 Turkish liras, or approximately $531.
Erdogan also confirmed the number of deaths caused by the earthquake increased to 14,014.
