Tremors caused $34.2 bln physical damage

The two major earthquakes that hit Turkey on Feb. 6 caused around $34.2 billion in direct physical damage, the World Bank said.

However, the total reconstruction costs facing the country could be twice as high, Reuters said, citing Anna Bjerde, the institution’s vice president for Europe and Central Asia on Monday.

Bjerde said the initial rapid damage assessment of $34.2 billion was equivalent to about 4% of Turkey’s economic output in 2021, but that did not include indirect or secondary impacts on the growth of its economy, or the most recent earthquake a week ago.

"Our experience is that reconstruction needs can run as high as two to three times the estimated direct physical damage," she said.

The World Bank estimates that the tremors would also shave at least half a percentage point off Turkey's forecast gross domestic product growth of 3.5% to 4% in 2023, World Bank’s Turkey director Humberto Lopez also told reporters.

The Feb.6 tremors claimed almost 45,000 lives in Turkey’s southeast.