Fitch: Economic damage from earthquake in Turkiye may exceed $4B

As a result of the devastating earthquake, Turkiye’s economic damage is likely to exceed $2 billion and may reach $4 billion, Report informs referring to the analysts of Fitch Ratings.

“Insurable losses are hard to estimate as the situation is evolving, but they appear likely to exceed $2 billion and could reach $4 billion or more. However, insured losses could be much lower, perhaps around $1 billion, due to low insurance coverage in the affected regions. The vast majority of insured losses will be covered by reinsurance.

The Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool (TCIP) was created after the Izmit earthquake of 1999 to cover earthquake damage to residential buildings in urban areas. However, it does not cover human losses, liability claims or indirect losses, such as business interruption.

An earthquake of magnitude 7.7 struck province of Kahramanmaras in southeastern Turkiye on February 6. The tremors, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, were felt in 10 provinces of the country, as well as in neighboring Syria.

A state of emergency was declared in 10 provinces of Turkiye for three months. The country has declared seven days of mourning in memory of the dead.