168 earthquake victim owned houses by participating
‘Zaman' 05 August 2003

The 168 houses that are being constructed with the participation of the beneficiaries are about to be finished. They have been working on site since one year no matter they are young, old, men, women or disabled. The earthquake victims are about to finish the houses that they have individually decided on the interior plans and which they have participated starting from simple tasks like concrete watering, nail collecting to heavy ones as concrete mixing and brick laying. The allocations of the houses have been done yesterday with the participation of Governor Cengiz Bulut Mayor Ruhi Kurnaz and Prof.Dr. Ahmet Mete Isıkara. For a long period IBC has distributed hot food following the 17 August earthquake. Following the first impacts of the earthquake a social housing project for the houseless has began. The beneficiaries were to build their own houses with the International funds that will be provided. The construction has begun in 2003 following the receipt of the mentioned funds. It took three months to identify the beneficiaries.

The president of IBC, Recep Uker states that a long and keen investigation has been made in order to reach the actually needy as beneficiaries. Uker also stated that priority have been given to individuals whom had no properties, having lost family members at the earthquake and the disabled and added that 9 beneficiaries were eliminated due to false declarations and not willing to participate. Uker mentioned that allowing them the chance of customization for room sizes, toilet styles and interior paint colors increased the motivation considerably.

A member of the project, Sibel Gulmez had lost her father and her two brothers during the earthquake and left with her mother applied to the project and identified as a beneficiary. In the mean time, she became as the community participation officer, who is planning the participation program of the beneficiaries on the construction site. Gulmes states that some of the participants adopted careers while working on the site. Halil Isler is the head of a family with 4 disabled members including him whom lived in a rented flat and could hardly afford the 35 Million Turkish Liras monthly is now smiling during the lottery and praying good will for the ones that provided them a shelter.