Erdoğan: Earthquakes to cost Turkey 104 billion dollars

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The February earthquakes are expected to cost 104 billion dollars (~2 trillion Turkish liras) to Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said yesterday (March 20).

"According to our initial calculations, the cost of the destruction caused by the earthquake will reach 104 billion dollars. Regardless of their economic situation, it's impossible for any country to deal with a disaster of this extent," the president remarked during a EU-led donors' conference, which he attended online.

The donors pledged 7 billion Euro in aid to rebuild the country.

As the authorities are about to complete damage assessment work in the affected cities, they have found that about 298,000 buildings have become unusable, Erdoğan noted. The buildings comprised 876,000 independent units, he added.

The government aims to build 319,000 housing units in a year and 650,000 units eventually to meet the housing needs in the region, he said. The earthquakes displaced nearly two million people in 11 cities. (AS/VK)