World Bank Estimates Losses Due To Earthquake In Turkey Reaching IDR 519 Trillion

The impact of the earthquake in Turkey. (Twitter/@UNReliefChief)

JAKARTA - The devastating earthquake on February 6 and aftershocks that hit southern Turkey caused more than $34 billion in losses in the country, according to the World Bank.

The amount was equivalent to 4 percent of Turkey's gross domestic product (GDP) last year, the World Bank said in a statement, adding that the estimate did not include reconstruction costs which were "potentially twice as large." The estimates also do not take into account the damage caused in northern Syria, which was also hit by the quake.

The World Bank warned that continued aftershocks are likely to increase the total amount of damage from the disaster.

"This disaster serves as a reminder of the high risk of earthquakes in Turkey and the need to increase the resilience of public and private infrastructure," said World Bank Country Director for Turkey Humberto Lopez, launching The National News on 28 February.

"As a leader in disaster risk management, the World Bank is committed to accompanying Turkey in its quest towards a disaster-resilient economic recovery," Lopez continued.

Furthermore, the World Bank also estimates that around 1.25 million people lost their homes, due to damage to residential buildings.

The report also said that 81 percent of the estimated damage occurred in Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Malatya, and Adıyaman Provinces, which are home to around 6.45 million people, or about 7.4 percent of Turkey's population.

He explained, direct damage to residential buildings accounted for 53 percent of the estimate, with 28 percent of the damage to non-residential buildings and the remainder affecting infrastructure such as roads and bridges.

On February 9, the World Bank announced an initial USD 1.78 billion aid package to assist relief and recovery efforts, including USD 780 million in immediate assistance through the Contingent Emergency Response Component of two existing projects in Turkey, as well as USD 1 billion The US is in a new emergency recovery project to help earthquake-affected communities.

Meanwhile, Turkey's economic growth is expected to slow significantly to 2.8 percent in 2023, official data showed on Tuesday. Previously, the economy began to slow down in the second half of 2022 amid a decline in domestic and foreign demand, with exports being affected by the war in Ukraine. Growth will reach 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, down from a revised 4 percent in the third quarter and 7.8 percent in the second.

The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria that struck on February 6 surpassed 50,000 on Friday, after Turkey said more than 44,000 people had died.

Yesterday, another magnitude 5.6 earthquake rocked southern Turkey, killing one person, injuring 69 others, and causing several buildings to collapse.

Meanwhile, some 40,000 Syrians who fled from quake-affected areas have returned from Turkey to rebel-held northwestern Syria, two weeks since Turkey eased restrictions on their movement, a Turkish official and a Syrian rebel official said.