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Turkiye earthquakes to cost insurers $2.4bn - KCC

February 16, 2023 at 6:45 pm

Rescue team members try to warm up around fire as search and rescue efforts continue in collapsed buildings after 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes hit multiple provinces of Turkiye [Muhittin Sandıkçı/Mert Türker]

Catastrophe modelling firm, Karen Clark & Company (KCC), said on Thursday it expects insured losses of $2.4 billion from the devastating dual Kahramanmaras earthquakes that hit Turkiye earlier this month.

The number of people killed by the deadliest earthquake in Turkiye’s modern history has risen to 36,187, authorities said, Reuters reports.

Total property losses from the magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes are expected to be close to $20 billion, KCC said.

READ: Israel airline resumes flights to Turkiye

The firm’s insured loss figure did not include Syria, where the disaster has compounded a humanitarian crisis caused by 12 years of war.

The earthquakes destroyed or heavily damaged more than 41,000 buildings across ten of Turkiye’s 81 provinces, according to the report.

The disaster is the largest magnitude event to occur in Turkiye since the 1939 Erzincan earthquake, the modelling firm said.

Direct costs from the destruction of physical structures in Turkiye could amount to 2.5 per cent of growth domestic product, or $25 billion, JPMorgan said on Thursday.

READ: Turkiye earthquake could result in loss of up to 1% of country’s GDP in 2023