Kahramanmaraş Earthquake, Container City Projects

We Delivered 7,000 Earthquake Houses to the Earthquake Zone

On 6 February 2023, the sad earthquake that occurred in Kahramanmaraş deeply wounded us all as a country. While many of our citizens lost their lives, hundreds of thousands of our citizens faced the need for shelter. According to the International Organisation for Migration, an estimated 2.7 million people were left homeless.

Based on our principle of 'standing by humanity in difficult times', we allocated all our production to the region immediately after the earthquake. We immediately started the production of 1+1 earthquake container houses. Within the framework of the emergency action plan, we started production on a 7/24 working basis. In integration with the AFAD organisation, we succeeded in producing 7,000 container houses and delivering them to the region within a period of nearly 100 days.

In this process, we planned logistics facilities according to the urgent need. While we can normally ship 2 containers with a truck, we increased it to 3 with the addition of special transport apparatus. Our earthquake container houses were placed in container cities planned under AFAD organisation in 10 provinces.

Best Ergonomics of Use in Earthquake Container

The earthquake container specially designed for the accommodation needs of a family stands out with the best use ergonomics. Living area in 1+1 plan was supported with toilet cabin and shower unit.

Karmod earthquake container provides ease of air conditioning with its completely sandwich panel system from roof to walls. Cooling in summers and heating in winters are carried out in an economical way with minimum energy consumption.

Container house also stands out with its full earthquake safety. It is not damaged in earthquake tremors with its completely bolt-nut combination and plug-in feature.

305 Container Cities in 10 Provinces

In order to shelter millions of people in a healthy environment, a total of 305 container city areas were established by AFAD in 10 provinces where earthquake destruction occurred. The earthquake container houses we produced as Karmod were shipped to the planned container city areas.

Kahramanmaraş Earthquake - 6 February 2023

On 6 February 2023, two separate earthquakes that occurred nine hours apart in Pazarcık and Elbistan districts of Kahramanmaraş are known as Kahramanmaraş Earthquake.

The destructive effect of the two earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.8 Mw (± 0.1) and 7.5 Mw was very great when combined with the settlement conditions of the region and the depth of the disaster. The 10 provinces that suffered heavy damage in the Kahramanmaraş Earthquake are Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman, Gaziantep, Malatya, Adana, Şanlıurfa, Osmaniye, Diyarbakır and Kilis. After two major earthquakes, the effect of the earthquake lasted for days with aftershocks. After the main earthquakes, more than 38 thousand aftershocks with magnitudes up to 6.7 Mw occurred in the region.

Süleyman Soylu, Minister of Interior at the time, announced on 22 April that 50,783 people died and 107,204 people were injured in the earthquake. It was also stated that 120 police officers, over 32 soldiers and at least 14 doctors lost their lives in the earthquake. The earthquake directly affected 14 million people, 16 per cent of Turkey's population.

Thousands of buildings collapsed or were heavily damaged after the earthquake, leaving nearly three million people in need of shelter.

The earthquake also affected historical buildings. Many historical buildings, including the Habib-i Neccar Mosque in Antakya, Kahramanmaraş Great Mosque, Adıyaman Great Mosque, Gaziantep Castle, Hatay Parliament Building, Elbistan Great Mosque, Şirvan Mosque and the Latin Catholic Church in İskenderun, were severely damaged or destroyed.

The earthquake also damaged motorways and air and sea transport. The Adana-Gaziantep motorway, Kırıkhan-Reyhanlı highway and Hatay Airport were damaged. Many containers overturned due to the collapse of the Iskenderun Port dock caused by the earthquake and caused a fire.

The International Organisation for Migration reported that an estimated 2.7 million people were left homeless in the earthquake zone. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) reported that 658,000 workers in Turkey and 170,000 in Syria lost their livelihoods as a result of the earthquakes.

Kahramanmaras Earthquake Increased Solidarity between Countries

After the earthquake, 102 countries offered assistance to Turkey. 9 thousand 315 search and rescue personnel from 88 countries were dispatched to the earthquake zones. Dozens of countries sent first aid supplies, equipment, medical teams and sent messages of condolence. In addition, the Armenia-Turkey border was opened for the first time in thirty years for aid deliveries.