Türkiye Earthquake Damage Set to Exceed $100 Bln, Says UN Agency

This picture shows collapsed buildings in Hatay on March 6, 2023, one month after a massive earthquake struck southeastern Türkiye. (AFP)

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10:50-7 March 2023 AD ـ 15 Sha’ban 1444 AH

10:44-7 March 2023 AD ـ 15 Sha’ban 1444 AH

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10:50-7 March 2023 AD ـ 15 Sha’ban 1444 AH

10:44-7 March 2023 AD ـ 15 Sha’ban 1444 AH

Türkiye Earthquake Damage Set to Exceed $100 Bln, Says UN Agency

This picture shows collapsed buildings in Hatay on March 6, 2023, one month after a massive earthquake struck southeastern Türkiye. (AFP)

Damage caused by a devastating earthquake in Türkiye will exceed $100 billion, a UN Development Program official told a press briefing on Tuesday ahead of a major donor conference next week.

"It's clear from the calculations being done to date that the damage figure presented by the government and supported by...international partners would be in excess of $100 billion," said the UNDP's Louisa Vinton, by video link from Gaziantep.

More than 52,000 people were killed in Türkiye and Syria by the Feb. 6 earthquakes, with many being crushed or buried in their sleep.

The provisional damage figure, which Vinton said covers just Türkiye, is being used as a basis for a donor conference to mobilize funds for earthquake victims in Brussels, Belgium on March 16, she added.

The World Bank previously estimated the Türkiye damage at around $34.2 billion.

Vinton described the scenes in Türkiye’s worst-hit Hatay province as "apocalyptic", saying hundreds of thousands of homes have been destroyed.

"The needs are vast but the resources are scarce," she added.

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NKorea Discloses Uranium Enrichment Facility, Kim Calls for More Nuclear Weapons

HANDOUT - 13 September 2024, North Korea, ---: A photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on 13 September 2024, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) inspecting a uranium enrichment facility. Photo: -/KCNA/KNS/dpa

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07:23-13 September 2024 AD ـ 10 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1446 AH

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07:23-13 September 2024 AD ـ 10 Rabi’ Al-Awwal 1446 AH

NKorea Discloses Uranium Enrichment Facility, Kim Calls for More Nuclear Weapons

North Korea offered a rare glimpse into a secretive facility to produce weapons-grade uranium as state media reported Friday that leader Kim Jong Un visited the area and called for stronger efforts to “exponentially” increase the number of his nuclear weapons.
It’s unclear if the site is at the North's main Yongbyon nuclear complex, but it's the North's first disclosure of a uranium-enrichment facility since it showed one at Yongbyon to visiting American scholars in 2010, The Associated Press reported. While the latest unveiling is likely an attempt to apply more pressure on the US and its allies, the images North Korea's media released of the area could provide outsiders with a valuable source of information for estimating the amount of nuclear ingredients that North Korea has produced.
During a visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute and the production base of weapon-grade nuclear materials, Kim expressed “great satisfaction repeatedly over the wonderful technical force of the nuclear power field” held by North Korea, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
KCNA said that Kim went around the control room of the uranium enrichment base and a construction site that would expand its capacity for producing nuclear weapons. North Korean state media photos showed Kim being briefed by scientists while walking along long lines of tall gray tubes, but KCNA didn’t say when Kim visited the facilities and where they are located.
KCNA said Kim stressed the need to further augment the number of centrifuges to “exponentially increase the nuclear weapons for self-defense,” a goal he has repeatedly stated in recent years. It said Kim ordered officials to push forward the introduction of a new-type centrifuge, which has reached its completion stage.
Kim said North Korea needs greater defense and preemptive attack capabilities because “anti-(North Korea) nuclear threats perpetrated by the US imperialists-led vassal forces have become more undisguised and crossed the red-line,” KCNA said.
South Korea’s Unification Ministry said it strongly condemned North Korea’s unveiling of a uranium-enrichment facility and Kim’s vows to boost his country's nuclear capability. A ministry statement said North Korea’s “illegal” pursuit of nuclear weapons in defiance of UN bans is a serious threat to international peace. It said North Korea must realize it cannot win anything with its nuclear program.
North Korea first showed a uranium enrichment site in Yongbyon to the outside world in November 2010, when it allowed a visiting delegation of Stanford University scholars led by nuclear physicist, Siegfried Hecker, to tour its centrifuges. North Korean officials then reportedly told Hecker that 2,000 centrifuges were already installed and running at Yongbyon.
Satellite images in recent years have indicated North Korea was expanding a uranium enrichment plant at its Yongbyon nuclear complex. Nuclear weapons can be built using either highly enriched uranium or plutonium, and North Korea has facilities to produce both at Yongbyon. It’s not clear exactly how much weapons-grade plutonium or highly enriched uranium has been produced at Yongbyon and where North Korea stores it.

Türkiye Earthquake Damage Set to Exceed $100 Bln, Says UN Agency

Türkiye Earthquake Damage Set to Exceed $100 Bln, Says UN Agency

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NKorea Discloses Uranium Enrichment Facility, Kim Calls for More Nuclear Weapons

NKorea Discloses Uranium Enrichment Facility, Kim Calls for More Nuclear Weapons

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