The Earthquakes Have Caused $34.2 Billion in Damage to Turkey's Economy

The material damage inflicted by the devastating earthquakes in Turkey amounts to $34.2 billion (645 billion 884 million 100 thousand Turkish lira). According to Ermenihaber, this was stated by Humbeto López, the director of the World Bank’s (WB) Turkey office, while presenting the 'Global Rapid Assessment of Disaster Damages (GRADE)' report.

He also noted that the aforementioned figure corresponds to 4% of Turkey's gross domestic product (GDP).

The report indicates that ongoing aftershocks may increase the extent of damage over time. Highlighting that the earthquake zone includes several provinces with the highest levels of poverty in Turkey, the report states that nearly 50 percent of the Syrian refugees, amounting to more than 1.7 million, are located in the region.

The report also calculates that 1.25 million people have been temporarily displaced due to the complete or partial collapse of buildings. According to official Turkish data, the extent of damages caused by the earthquakes, which claimed the lives of 44,374 people, is still being clarified.