site.btaTurkiye to Spend USD 37 Bln due to February Earthquakes

Turkiye's total costs related to the earthquakes of February 6 will reach TRY 1 trillion or some USD 37 billion, Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said, as quoted by Hurriyet Daily News on Monday.  Around TRY 762 billion will be spent from the central government budget, he told reporters while visiting to the southeastern province of Gaziantep during the weekend.

There will be other expenditures as well, such as resources allocated by the local authorities, the Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR) and the Social Security Institution (SGK). The estimates place the total expenditures for this year at around TRY 1 trillion, he said.

According to the first assessments, the damage caused by the quakes amount to USD 104 billion, the Vice President noted.

He recalled that the earthquakes in February affected directly 11 provinces and over 14 million people. In his words, the  resulting expenditures are too big even for most developed countries.

The two quakes took the lives of more than 50,000 people and left many without a home.