The World Bank revealed yesterday, Friday, that the devastating earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey on February 6 caused direct material losses to Syria amounting to about 5.1 billion dollars.

This came in a report issued by the World Bank entitled "Rapid Post-Disaster Global Damage Assessment in Syria," which pointed out that "the current value of the damaged and destroyed capital stock is estimated at about 10% of GDP."

The report did not include the wide economic effects and losses to the Syrian economy, such as the suspension of production or business, loss of income, temporary housing costs, and demolition costs, noting that these require further in-depth assessment.

Most affected cities

The World Bank confirmed that Aleppo was the most affected city, accounting for 45% of the damages estimated at about 2.3 billion dollars, followed by Idlib at 37% (1.9 billion dollars), and Latakia at 11% (549 million dollars).

The report pointed out that "the direct damage to residential buildings represents about half (48.5%) of the total damage, estimated at about 2.5 billion dollars, while damage to non-residential buildings represents one-third (33.5%) of the total damage estimated at about 9.7 billion dollars."

Infrastructure damage

Infrastructure damage represents 18% of the total damage estimated at about 0.9 billion dollars, including transport and vital energy, water, information technology, and communications infrastructure," according to the report.

The World Bank confirmed that it has begun conducting a rapid damage and needs assessment in Syria, which will provide more detailed estimates for each sector separately, including estimates of economic losses and recovery needs.

The earthquake in Turkey and Syria last month caused thousands of buildings to sustain severe damage, including schools, healthcare facilities, and other public infrastructure such as roads, airports, ports, oil stations, electricity lines, water supply, and sanitation, in addition to recording hundreds of aftershocks.