The economic losses linked to the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria could exceed 2 billion dollars and reach the 4,000 million or more, the financial rating agency said Thursday fitch.
The two countries will have to face “human tragedy” but also to “economic losses that are difficult to estimate, because the situation is changing,” Fitch stressed in a statement.
“They should exceed 2,000 million dollars and could reach 4,000 million or more”the rating agency said.
However, the insured amounts are much lower “due to low insurance coverage in the affected regions,” Fitch explains.
17,500 dead
The earthquake that shook this Monday Turkey and Syria and devastated entire regions. This Thursday, four days after the earthquake, the hope of finding more survivors was fading.
Rescue teams continue to search for thousands of people suspected trapped in the rubble, but optimism wanes in the face of frigid temperatures and exceeding the 72-hour period that is considered crucial to save lives.
The death toll continues to grow. The latest balances place it at 17,513 deaths14,351 of them in Turkey and 3,162 in Syria.
The earthquake of magnitude 7.8 It happened early Monday morning while many people were still asleep in this region where many have already suffered loss and displacement due to the Syrian civil war.
Until this Thursday, the northwest of Syriacontrolled by the rebels, did not receive its first convoy of international aid through the border crossing of Bab al-Hawathe only one authorized for these shipments from Turkey.
Although it was an assistance package planned since before the quake, “it could be considered an initial response from the United Nations and it should continue, as we were promised, with bigger convoys to help our people,” he said. Mazen Alloushresponsible for the border crossing.
On the other side of the border, the discontent grows before the reaction of the authorities to the earthquake that, according to what the president himself admitted on Wednesday Recep Tayyip Erdoganhad “deficiencies”.
Many survivors had to search for food and shelter on their own. With no rescue teams in several areas, some watched helplessly as their trapped relatives called for help until their voices trailed off.
In Brussels, the European Union prepares a donor conference in March to mobilize international aid for Syria and Turkey.
“No one should be left alone when a tragedy like this strikes a people,” said the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
The issue of aid is thorny in Syriapunished by civil war, with areas of the country under rebel control and a dictatorship at odds with the West.
The European Union quickly sent rescue teams to Turkeywho also received help from USA, China or the gulf countriesbut initially offered a minimal assistance to Syria for the sanctions against Damascus.
On Wednesday, however, the regime Bashar al-Assad formally requested help from Brussels and the European Commission urged the Twenty-seven to “respond favourably”, while making sure that the help “not be misguided”.
The UN special envoy for Syria called on Thursday do not politicize humanitarian aid. “We have to do everything possible to ensure that there is no obstacle to the vital aid that is needed in Syria,” he said. Geir Pedersen.
In a region of recurring seismic activity, Monday’s quake is the strongest to hit Turkey since 1939, when a tremor killed 33,000 people in the eastern province of Erzincan.
In 1999, another magnitude 7.4 earthquake caused more than 17,000 deaths.
(With information from AFP)
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Source-www.infobae.com