'Disaster of the century' caused $104B direct, $150B indirect loss: Erdogan

The “disaster of the century” has directly caused a financial loss of $104 billion to Türkiye, Turkish President Erdogan has said, regarding the twin earthquakes of 2023.

“The 'disaster of the century' has caused a severe direct financial loss of $104 billion to our country and an indirect loss of $150 billion,” Erdogan said on Thursday during the February 6 Earthquakes Commemoration Program in Türkiye’s southeastern province of Adiyaman.

“By the end of the year, we will build a total of 453,000 housing units, ensuring that not a single citizen remains without a home or a workplace,” he added.

Eleven provinces affected

"In the earthquake zone, we have undertaken a massive reconstruction and revival effort within just two years, a scale that almost no country in the world could handle," he further noted.

Eleven Turkish provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Elazig, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kahramanmaras, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye, and Sanliurfa, were hit by the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes in February 2023.

The earthquakes killed at least 53,537 people, injured over 107,000, and impacted the lives of more than 14 million people.

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