The February earthquakes affected 5,600 industrial enterprises in Turkey and caused $9 billion damage to the strategic sector of the country's economy, Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank said.
"We estimate the damage to infrastructure, buildings, equipment and stocks at about 170 billion Turkish liras ($9 billion)," Varank said.
In total, about 5,600 enterprises in 34 industrial zones of Turkey were significantly or moderately damaged, the minister said, adding that 33,000 other factories continued to operate.
On February 6, two earthquakes of magnitudes 7.7 and 7.6 hit the southeastern regions of Turkey at a nine-hour interval, toppling thousands of homes. The underground shocks followed by hundreds of aftershocks were felt in 11 Turkish provinces and in neighboring countries, especially in Syria. The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey has exceeded 50,000.
