Over 200,000 students resettled after earthquakes, says minister

A psychological support center in Diyarbakır. (Photo: AA)

Some 202,817 students from 10 cities affected by last month's powerful earthquakes have been resettled in other cities, the education minister has announced.

The students were transferred upon their requests, Mahmut Özer said yesterday (March 1).

Over 27,000 students were transferred to Ankara, the capital, said the minister. The other provinces that received the highest number of students were Antalya, Mersin, İstanbul and Konya.

Also, 418 psychological support centers have been established in the quake-hit provinces, according to Özer. Through the centers, psychological support has been offered to about 691,000 people, including over 413,000 students.

He further said that an "earthquake psychological education program" would be implemented in provinces that were not affected by the quakes.

Yesterday, schools reopened in three provinces that were relatively less affected by the earthquake — Diyarbakır, Urfa and Kilis.

The earthquakes

On February 6, two earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.7 and 7.6 struck the southern city of Maraş. The first quake in the Pazarcık district at 4.17 a.m. was followed by the second one in Elbistan about nine hours later.

The quakes affected 11 cities in Türkiye's south and southeast, as well as Syria's northern parts, where over 5,000 people have died.

Türkiye's death toll from the quakes stands at over 45,000 and is expected to increase further, as over 160,000 buildings were destroyed or severely damaged, according to government figures.

Nearly two million people have been displaced due to the earthquakes.

(VK)