The Turkish Tsunami

A deadly earthquake in the Aegean Sea rattled coastal cities in Turkey and islands in Greece. The Turkish death toll rose Sunday to 64, according to the country’s disaster management agency, bringing the overall death toll to 66. 

The most damage occurred in Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, with a population of nearly 3 million people. More than 20 buildings collapsed, the city’s governor said, and at least 70 people had to be pulled from the rubble.

The earthquake caused high casualties and significant material damage to property, with severe effects on economic activity. Turkey’s vulnerability to earthquake damage, along a known active fault line, to deficiencies in risk identification procedures and risk-reduction methods, as well as to the absence of risk transfer and financing techniques. 

These deficiencies may stem from the nature of recent Turkish economic deterioration which has been associated with extremely high and variable inflation.

The temblor was the latest in a series of calamities to befall Turkey in the past year: In addition to the coronavirus pandemic and a severe economic crisis, an earthquake in January killed 41 people and a series of avalanches weeks later killed 38, including rescue workers.