The damage from Turkey earthquake is 'excessive,' professor says

When I speak not just to economists but also to those running NGOs, they look at the scale and the scope of this disaster and they are essentially saying to me that this is going to be a long road to recovery, it's going to cost billions and that international aid will have to be a huge part of the package. What's your take? Yes, exactly. So the damage is excessive and there will be a need for international aid to help with free construction and rehabilitation. At the moment the death toll is 17,674. I don't want to round it because every single number is a lost life and the numbers are most likely going to go up because there are about 9,500 buildings that are collapsed and more than 200,000 people under the rubble. So it's going to take a lot of effort and a lot of funding to reconstruct these buildings and help out the families to re-establish their houses. Now the scale of the disaster is indeed overwhelming.

How much of a strain is this going to put on this country in terms of the budget, in terms of the economy? We've already seen the lira on a downward slide since 2013. We saw it hit an all-time low on Monday. How difficult is this going to be for Turkey to get back on its feet? It is going to be a challenge and I should also note that it is understandable that two earthquakes at this scale would cause considerable damage elsewhere in the world. And the scale is indeed overwhelming, but that being said, have there been stronger institutions, accountability and transparency in the decades preceding the earthquake? And had there been enforcement of rules and regulations regarding building codes and had there been more organized and rapid response, the damage could have been minimized. Now the 1999 earthquake was perhaps a turning point for us because it played a role in the election of the current government. And in the first couple of years, there were efforts to fix things. Rules and regulations were passed and hospitals were constructed, buildings were strengthened and shelter areas were assigned.

However, after 2006 earthquake was pushed down on the list of priorities and the shelter areas turned into parking lots and malls, regulations were not enforced, building codes were violated and as a result, we ended up with considerable damage.

Capital Connection, CNBC