According to estimates from the World Bank, the earthquakes that hit the south of Turkey at the beginning of February and overall post-earthquake damages may reach approximately USD 34 billion (EUR 32 billion).
This amount is equal to 4% of Turkey’s GDP for 2021. The estimate
DOES NOT INCLUDE THE COSTS OF RESTORATION WORK, WHICH MAY BE TWICE AS LARGE, AS MENTIONED IN THE REPORT FROM THE WORLD BANK.
The estimate also does not include the damages caused to Syria’s northern parts, which were also struck by the earthquakes. It is planned for the World Bank to announce estimates on damages caused by the earthquakes in Syria on Tuesday, the 28th of February.
BECAUSE AFTERSHOCKS CONTINUE, THE WORLD BANK WARNS THAT THE FINAL ESTIMATE OF THE DAMAGES WILL LIKELY INCREASE EVEN FURTHER.
As previously reported, the recent earthquake has left 1.25 million homeless. The number of deaths in both countries’ regions struck by earthquakes exceeds 50 000 (44 200 in Turkey and 5 900 in Syria). Turkey has evacuated approximately 530 000 people from the zone of catastrophe.
LONDON — A powerful aftershock struck southern Turkey on Monday, in what has been a series of tremors to hit the region since the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake earlier this month.
The death toll for both Turkey and Syria has been steadily climbing since Feb. 6, with fatalities now surpassing 50,000. According to statistics from the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, 15 million people across 10 different provinces in Turkey have been affected by the major quakes and subsequent tremors.
Over the course of three weeks, Turkey has experienced several earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.6 or higher. To make sense of the continued tragedies there, Yahoo News spoke with Ebru Bozdag, an associate professor of geophysics at the Colorado School of Mines.
“The primary reason for earthquakes is the relative movement of tectonic plates at the surface,” Bozdag said.
“The Earth, very roughly, has four major layers. From surface to the center: crust, mantle, outer and inner cores. The crust is broken into rigid tectonic plates, which float on top of the mantle due to the convection currents in the mantle. As the plates move relative to each other, earthquakes happen at plate boundaries. But we also observe some seismic activity inside tectonic plates as well.
“Another reason for earthquakes is related to mantle plumes and associated volcanic activities which can occur inside tectonic plates,” she explained, “such as the type of earthquakes seen in Hawaii, which is located almost in the middle of the Pacific Plate.”
Why has Turkey experienced so many earthquakes this month?
Turkey is located in one of the most seismically active regions on Earth,” Bozdag said. “Due to the northward push of the Arabian Plate and the subduction [when one plate moves under another and into the mantle] in the Mediterranean Sea, the Anatolian Plate is trying to escape the west, performing a counterclockwise
