The material damage caused by the earthquake in Turkey alone “exceeds 100 billion dollars”, according to a summary calculation by the World Bank, the UN, the European Union and the Turkish government.
A month after the earthquake, which killed more than 46,000 people on the Turkish side, “it is already clear that the material damage alone will amount to more than 100 billion dollars”, said Louisa Vinton, head of the Turkey program. United Nations Development Program (UNDP) by videoconference from Gaziantep during a regular UN briefing in Geneva.
“The costs of rebuilding and everything that will have to do with building back better and building back greener will obviously still exceed that amount,” Ms Vinton pointed out.
These estimates are still based on provisional data, but the amount of 100 billion damage will be that presented to a Conference of donors to help with the reconstruction which is to be held on March 16 in Brussels, said Ms Vinton.
Faced with these huge amounts, Ms. Vinton said her “disappointment and sadness” at the lack of generosity of donors. Currently, the $1 billion emergency appeal launched on February 16 is only 9.6 percent covered, she said.
The February 6 earthquake of magnitude 7.8, followed by another nine hours later of magnitude 7.6, killed nearly 46,000 people and injured 105,000 in Turkey, according to non-final reports.
It also destroyed or condemned 214,000 buildings, sometimes more than 10 stories high, in 11 of Turkey’s 81 provinces.
Nearly 6,000 people also lost their lives in Syria, according to the authorities.