Turkey-Syria earthquake damage set to exceed $135 billion: UN agency
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Collapsed buildings in Hatay on March 6, one month after a massive earthquake struck southeastern Turkey.
PHOTO: AFP
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GENEVA - Damage caused by a devastating earthquake in Turkey will exceed US$100 billion (S$135 billion), a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) official told a press briefing on Tuesday ahead of a major donor conference next week.
“It’s clear from the calculations being done to date that the damage figure presented by the government and supported by... international partners would be in excess of US$100 billion,” said the UNDP’s Louisa Vinton by video link from Gaziantep.
More than 52,000 people were killed in Turkey and Syria by the Feb 6 earthquakes, with many crushed or buried in their sleep.
The provisional damage figure, which Ms Vinton said covers just Turkey, is being used as a basis for a donor conference in Brussels, Belgium on March 16 to mobilise funds for earthquake victims, she added.
The World Bank previously estimated the Turkey damage at around US$34.2 billion.
Ms Vinton described the scenes in Turkey’s worst-hit Hatay province as “apocalyptic”, saying hundreds of thousands of homes have been destroyed.
“The needs are vast, but the resources are scarce,” she added. REUTERS
