Financial losses arising from the catastrophe have exceeded $34 billion, the World Bank says
© AFP / Louai Beshara
The devastating earthquakes that hit Türkiye earlier this month have caused some $34.2 billion worth of physical damage, according to a preliminary assessment revealed by the World Bank on Monday.
The Washington-based institution noted that the total cost of reconstruction and recovery facing the nation could be “twice as large.”
“Our experience is that reconstruction needs can run as high as two to three times the estimated direct physical damage,” according to Anna Bjerde, World Bank Group vice president for Europe and Central Asia.
The amount is the equivalent to 4% of Türkiye’s GDP in 2021, and does not include the damage caused by the same earthquakes in northern Syria, the analysts said, adding that the estimate of the costs there would be released later this week.
According to the World Bank’s estimates, the disaster would also trim at least half a percentage point from Türkiye’s gross domestic product growth in 2023, which was initially set at between 3.5% and 4%.
On February 6, Türkiye and neighboring Syria were hit by massive earthquakes, with the combined death toll currently estimated at 44,300.
READ MORE: Powerful earthquakes strike Turkish-Syrian border
The quakes of 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude, the most deadly in modern Turkish history, left millions in need of humanitarian aid, while many remain homeless after thousands of buildings collapsed.
According to the World Bank, the catastrophic event was followed by nearly 7,500 aftershocks, creating the largest disaster of its kind to strike the country in more than eight decades.
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