According to a new assessment, the two worst wildfires that recently devastated Los Angeles County may have resulted in up to 164 billion US dollars in total property and financial losses.

According to research released Tuesday by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the Palisades and Eaton fires may have cost between 95 billion and 164 billion dollars in total property and capital losses, with an estimated 75 billion dollars in insured damages.

According to the Xinhua news agency, the report, which was written by UCLA Anderson Forecast economists Zhiyun Li and William Yu, projects a 0.48 percent decline in county-level GDP in 2025, or roughly 4.6 billion dollars, as well as a 297 million dollar wage loss for local businesses and workers in the impacted areas.

“Without substantial and effective wildfire mitigation efforts and investments, Californians will face increasingly higher insurance premiums and growing health risks from wildfire-related pollution,” according to the report, and housing markets in Los Angeles, “in particular for rental units, will become increasingly unaffordable.”

According to the UCLA Anderson School of Management’s website, the UCLA Anderson Forecast is one of the most popular and often referenced economic forecasts for California and the country.

The most devastating wildfires in the history of Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the US, occurred last month. At least 28 people were murdered by the two catastrophic large wildfires, which also burned more than 16,000 buildings. Over 23,700 acres (95.9 square kilometers) and 14,000 acres (56.7 square kilometers) were burned in the Palisades and Eaton fires, respectively.

Furthermore, more than a dozen schools in Southern California have been burned or seriously damaged as a result of the disastrous wildfires that started to spread across the area on January 7.

The anticipated cost of rebuilding is hundreds of millions of US dollars, and recovery is likely to take years, as school authorities begin the difficult process.

CalMatters, a nonprofit news organization that focuses on local agendas in California, reports that at least 12 schools in Los Angeles County have sustained substantial damage, with five campuses being demolished. Palisades Charter High School sustained significant damage, while two primary campuses in Pacific Palisades were lost by the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest school system in the country. Three more elementary schools were destroyed in Altadena and Pasadena.