World Bank Director Reveals: $500 Billion Needed for Resilient Housing

Humberto Lopez, the Country Director of the World Bank for Turkey, announced that $500 billion was required to make existing housing in Turkey resilient.

At the 9th Sustainable Finance Forum, the costs of the February 6 earthquake and the sustainable development focus on external resource procurement in the finance sector were discussed. Speaking at the forum, World Bank Country Director for Turkey, Humberto Lopez, stated that a total of $500 billion needed to be spent on strengthening existing homes.

The forum commenced with opening speeches by Korkmaz Ergun, the CEO of Borsa Istanbul, Humberto Lopez, the Country Director of the World Bank for Turkey, and Ebru Dildar Edin, the Chairperson of SKD Turkey’s Board of Directors. Speakers addressing the costs of the earthquake to Turkey emphasized that the economic burden of the earthquake accounted for 9% of the gross domestic product in the first half of 2023. They also noted that the earthquake in Turkey and Syria resulted in the highest economic loss in the first half of this year, compared to losses experienced since 2011.

“TO MAKE EXISTING HOMES RESILIENT, HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS NEEDS TO BE SPENT”

Humberto Lopez, addressing the issue of fortifying existing homes in Turkey, said, “If we want to make existing homes in Turkey resilient, the cost would be a total of $465 billion. We are talking about approximately half a trillion dollars, which is more than 50% of the gross domestic product. Financing this is indeed challenging. Looking at reducing the cost of climate change, excluding natural disasters, there is a cost of over $600 billion in Turkey. With $100 billion for an earthquake and $500 billion for making existing homes resilient and reducing climate change, the total cost exceeds $1 trillion. In this case, our cost equals the entire gross domestic product.”