The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has delivered 20 containers to archeology museums in Hatay and Kahramanmaras to protect the cultural heritage of the quake-hit region in Turkey.
18 containers were delivered to the Hatay Archeology Museum while the remainder were sent to the Kahramanmaras Archeology Museum on April 6.
The containers will be used to safeguard treasures from the collections of the two museums until preservation experts can restore damaged or destroyed landmarks and rehouse artifacts and artwork for public viewing.
“UNDP is currently seeking funding to support a broader effort to rebuild thousands of damaged cultural heritage monuments, in all their splendid diversity,” said UNDP Resident Representative Louisa Vinton.
In addition to the containers, UNDP will also supply handheld radios, drones, and tablets, which are needed to assess damage to artifacts, map damaged areas, take photographs for documentation and ensure the security of the artifacts while damage assessment studies continue in cultural assets and museums over the coming weeks.
More than 60% of the 2,863 structures that heritage experts were able to inspect suffered some level of damage, according to the Turkey Earthquakes Recovery and Reconstruction Assessment (TERRA) conducted by the Government with support from the UN, the EU, and the World Bank.
The Culture and Tourism Ministry listed 8,444 historical structures of cultural heritage across the 11 provinces struck most severely by the earthquakes.
