World Bank releases earthquake damage assessment report

Two major earthquakes that occurred in Kahramanmaras on February 6 caused the death of thousands of our people. In addition, countless buildings were destroyed in the 10 cities affected by the earthquake. Many buildings fell into disrepair due to the damage. In short, the earthquake caused great physical destruction in our country, along with a terrible loss of life. Accordingly, the World Bank recently released a report that draws attention to the cost of physical damage caused by the earthquake. According to the Global Rapid Disaster Estimate Report, the physical damage caused by the earthquake in Turkey is estimated at $34.2 billion. However, this amount can increase even more! Let’s look at the details together.

The World Bank announced that two major earthquakes on February 6 caused $34.2 billion in physical damage to our country.

The Global Post-Disaster Damage Assessment Report, which is said to be prepared to “provide an early and preliminary assessment of the direct damage caused by earthquakes,” provides startling data on the cost of physical damage caused by earthquakes. Accordingly, the earthquakes caused physical damage to our country for 34.2 billion dollars.

The $34.2 billion physical damage caused by the earthquake corresponds to 4% of Turkey’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021.

On the other hand, according to the report, the cost of an earthquake may increase in the future. Items of expenditure that are said to increase the cost of an earthquake are the costs of beautification and reconstruction processes. On the other hand, it is noted that economic shocks that may occur after an earthquake, ongoing aftershocks and GDP losses can also affect the cost of an earthquake. If all this is taken into account, the cost of the earthquake could double to $34.2 billion, according to the World Bank.

According to the Global Disaster Damage Assessment Report, the quake area also includes some of the cities with the highest levels of poverty in Turkey.

In addition, it is claimed that almost half of the Syrian refugees in our country live in the earthquake zone, and more than 1.7 million Syrians are in the disaster zone.

The report, which includes remarkable data, states that 1.25 million people in the quake area were temporarily homeless due to the fact that the buildings were completely destroyed or received moderate damage.

Continued poverty in the quake area, the extent of the physical destruction, and the density of the refugee population in the region may also be among the factors that will increase the cost of the earthquake.

According to a World Bank report, 81 percent of the damage was in Khatai, Kahramanmarash, Gaziantep, Malatya and Adiyaman.

An estimated 6.45 million people are said to live in these cities, where most of the damage has occurred. In addition, the report, which estimates the amount of physical damage caused by earthquakes, also indicates what material damage was caused in which areas.

Direct damage to residential buildings accounts for 53 percent of the total damage.

In other words, the property damage caused by residential buildings that became unusable as a result of earthquakes amounted to $ 18 billion. 28 percent of the total damage occurred in non-residential buildings such as medical facilities, schools, public and private sector buildings. The cost of damage to non-residential buildings is $9.7 billion.

The report also reveals the extent of damage to infrastructure as a result of the earthquake.

Accordingly, damage to infrastructure such as electricity, water, roads and sewerage accounts for 19 percent of the total damage. The cost of damage to infrastructure is stated to be $6.4 billion.

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