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Watch: Turkey marks one-year anniversary of devastating earthquake

Holly Patrick
Tuesday 06 February 2024 15:38 GMT
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Watch as people in Turkey held a march in the southern province of Hatay on Tuesday, 6 February to mark the one-year anniversary of a devastating earthquake that also struck Syria.

Tens of thousands of people died in the catastrophic 7.8-magnitude quake, which Turkey has called the "disaster of the century."

Earlier on Tuesday, a moment of silence was held at 4:17am to mark the time the quake hit.

Carnations were thrown into a river in an act of remembrance, and an orchestra played a song to honour victims.

Hatay was the worst-hit area out of 11 southern Turkish provinces affected by the quake.

Hatay, which lies between the Mediterranean Sea and the Syrian border, was the worst affected of the 11 southern provinces hit by the 7.8 magnitude quake.

Three million people were displaced by the disaster and many people remain in temporary accommodation for a second winter.

Turkish government figures say around 680,000 homes either collapsed or were left too damaged to live in, leaving hundreds of thousands still in need of shelter.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to rebuild 319,000 new homes within the year after the earthquake - according to government figures, 41,000 apartments and 5,000 “village houses” have been completed and are ready for people to live in and 200,000 housing units are under construction.

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