Shocking estimates announced by the World Bank for the value of the initial losses as a result of the major earthquake that struck southern Turkey. It expected that the cost of reconstruction would exceed twice the value of the losses. So what are these estimates in numbers?
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Part of the devastation left by the February 6th earthquake, which struck southern Turkey and northern Syria
The World Bank estimated the value of direct material damage resulting from the major earthquake in Turkey at regarding $34.2 billion, but indicated that the total costs of reconstruction and recovery facing the country may be twice that estimate.
Humberto Lopez, director of the World Bank’s office in Turkey, said that, according to the bank’s estimates, the two earthquakes that struck Turkey on February 6 will reduce at least half a percentage point from Turkey’s expected GDP growth this year, between 3.5 percent. % and 4%.
More than 160,000 buildings, or regarding 520,000 apartments, have collapsed or been severely damaged in Turkey due to the earthquake, which is the worst disaster in the country’s modern history.
Business groups and economists expect the quake to cost Ankara up to $100 billion to rebuild damaged housing and infrastructure, and to slash economic growth this year by a percentage point or two.
On Syria, Anna Berdy, Vice President of the World Bank Group for Europe and Central Asia, said that the situation is truly catastrophic in Syria, whose northern cities were severely hit by the earthquake. The bank will issue a separate assessment of the damage to Syria on Tuesday.
Berdi added that the initial rapid assessment of the damage in Turkey, amounting to $ 34.2 billion, is equivalent to regarding 4% of its economic output in 2021, but that did not include the indirect or secondary consequences for the growth of its economy, nor did it include the impact of the most recent earthquake, which occurred a week ago. .
Birdy explained that the experience of World Bank estimates indicates that “reconstruction needs can range between two and three times the direct physical damage, which has been estimated.”
Last Friday, the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority announced that the death toll from the devastating earthquake that struck southern Turkey had risen to 44,218, and a new earthquake had occurred in Malatya, eastern Anatolia.
