The Turkish government on Wednesday stepped up its efforts to help the quake-stricken working population in 10 of its cities which were worst hit in the 6 February natural disaster, the worst in the country’s history. As per Turkey’s official Gazette, the country has launched temporary wage support schemes and has imposed a ban on layoffs in at least 10 of these cities.
Notably, thousands of commercial buildings along with other key infrastructure turned into ruins after a 7.8 earthquake struck cities in southern and central Turkey. Turkish Parliament sprung into action on 7 February and imposed a state of emergency for three months in 10 of Turkey’s southern provinces to bolster the rescue efforts.
In the latest, employees whose working hours had been cut due to heavy or moderate quake damage to their workplaces will be supported by providing partial wages to them, the country’s Gazette said in a statement.
This kind of wage support system and a ban on layoffs were earlier also implemented in 2020 during the COVID pandemic as the country was trying to cope with its economic fallout.
As Turkey deploy its resources to aid the quake-hit people, reports suggest it could cost Ankara up to $100 billion. This includes rebuilding housing and infrastructure. Under the current challenging circumstances when the country is spending finances to get back the nation on track, the economists suggest it may tumble down the economic growth of the disaster-hit nation by one to two per cent this year.
The death toll from two earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria on 6 February killed over 47,000 people so far.
