Employees work on caravans at a factory in Ankara, Türkiye, on April 19, 2023. In the wake of devastating earthquakes in February, the demand for tiny houses and caravans surged in Türkiye as citizens seek safer accommodations in the earthquake-prone country. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
by Burak Akinci
ANKARA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- In the wake of devastating earthquakes in February, the demand for tiny houses and caravans surged in Türkiye as citizens seek safer accommodations in the earthquake-prone country.
The two massive earthquakes on Feb. 6 claimed over 50,000 lives in southern Türkiye, toppling tens of thousands of buildings and leaving millions of people homeless.
Amid quake fear, many citizens living in seismically active zones, who do not feel safe in their current houses but have a limited budget to settle in a new apartment, are turning to alternatives -- tiny houses and caravans, according to industry veterans.
"Following the earthquake there's been an explosion in demand for tiny houses," Galip Olmez, CEO of Yako Groups, Türkiye's biggest company producing tiny houses, told Xinhua.
"Whenever there is a crisis, there is a soaring interest for tiny houses in Türkiye," just like it was during the COVID-19 pandemic, Olmez said.
Tiny houses, some of which are on wheels and can be towed around anywhere, are priced between 20,000 and 30,000 U.S. dollars with their sizes ranging from 15 to 40 square meters.
In Olmez's view, it would be much more time and cost-efficient to establish tiny house villages in seismically active zones rather than engage in huge social housing projects.
He stressed that Turks used to live in rural communities but found themselves squeezed into big cities over time.
Olmez said his company aimed to motivate citizens to reside in safe and practical tiny houses and form modern rural communities.
There is a 10-fold increase in demand since the earthquakes, particularly in earthquake-prone cities such as Istanbul and Izmir, reported local media citing Cem Demirer, the founder of another tiny house manufacturer.
Istanbul, with its 16 million inhabitants, lies close to the North Anatolian Fault Zones, and the deadly tremors in February have revived the worries of a powerful earthquake that experts have long been raising alarms about.
Sinan Sefik and his wife Zerin, both retired teachers, are currently weighing their options to purchase a caravan in Izmir, Türkiye's third largest city located on the western Aegean coast.
Sefik told Xinhua that the massive quakes have prompted him and his wife to take action as Izmir also lies close to active seismic faultlines.
"The quakes were a wake-up call for us, we were already considering moving to a caravan or a tiny house, but now we are quite determined," the pensioner said. ■
An employee works on a caravan at a factory in Ankara, Türkiye, on April 19, 2023. In the wake of devastating earthquakes in February, the demand for tiny houses and caravans surged in Türkiye as citizens seek safer accommodations in the earthquake-prone country. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
A man is seen in a caravan in Ankara, Türkiye, on April 19, 2023. In the wake of devastating earthquakes in February, the demand for tiny houses and caravans surged in Türkiye as citizens seek safer accommodations in the earthquake-prone country. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
