Seven months after the earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northwestern Syria — the area that suffered the most from marginalisation policies before the Syrian conflict — the heavy cost of the earthquake has been quantified.
The loss of thousands of lives, the injury of tens of thousands, and the destruction of infrastructure, homes, and facilities are only a small slice of the suffering and damage that Syrians will suffer for years to come because of the repercussions of the earthquake.
The earthquake catastrophe led to the death of 6,392 people inside Syria, in addition to the loss of about 4,267 Syrians residing in Turkey, which reflects the double suffering of the Syrians residing inside Syria and the refugees to neighbouring countries.
The total economic losses because of the earthquake, according to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, amounted to USD $5.85bn with repercussions extending over the medium term, including losses of GDP of $3.62bn and capital stock losses of about $2.23bn.
These losses are estimated at about a third of Syria's GDP for the year 2022, but these losses were concentrated in northwestern Syria, meaning that the earthquake sharply exacerbated the inequality between the affected areas and other regions.
Meanwhile, the decline in GDP because of the earthquake is estimated at about 2.2% in 2023 at the national level.
Moreover, the earthquake led to the loss of more than 90,000 job opportunities and a further deterioration in the real income of families, as well as an increase in the rate of abject poverty.
