The Japanese government and the United Nations Development Programme have agreed to build facilities to recycle rubble left by Turkey's major earthquakes in February in a Japan-funded project.

The disaster killed 50,783 people and destroyed more than 310,000 buildings in southern Turkey. Workers still continue to demolish and remove damaged buildings.

Japanese Ambassador to Turkey Katsumata Takahiko and UNDP Turkey Resident Representative Louisa Vinton signed the agreement in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Wednesday.

Japanese embassy officials said the UNDP will build two facilities to recycle rubble into construction materials in the coming year with grant aid of 700 million yen, or about 4.83 million dollars, from Japan.

Officials also said the new facilities will safely remove hazardous wastes, such as asbestos, from the rubble.

Ambassador Katsumata said that more countries are looking to Japan, with its technologies and experience with earthquakes, for assistance. He added that Japan will continue to help Turkey rebuild.

The UNDP estimates that the Turkish quakes generated more than 200 million tons of debris, which is more than six times the volume resulting from the earthquake and tsunami that struck eastern Japan in 2011.

Vinton said the UNDP intends to show that rubble can be properly processed through the project. She also hopes to systemize the procedures and make them applicable anywhere.