Investigation of RC Buildings after 6 February 2023, Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye Earthquakes

Abstract

Two major earthquakes struck Pazarcık and Elbistan, towns in Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye, on 6 February 2023, approximately 9 h apart. The first earthquake, recorded at 04:17 local time, had a Mw = 7.7, with a focal depth of 8.6 km. At 13:24 local time, a second earthquake occurred with Mw = 7.6 at a focal depth of 7 km, approximately 90 km north of the first one. A total of 11 provinces were severely affected by these earthquakes. As of 15 April 2023, they caused close to 51,000 deaths and almost 215,000 completely destroyed/severely damaged buildings. At some locations, the largest horizontal peak ground acceleration (PGA) values of the first and second earthquakes exceeded the code-generated PGAs by almost 3 and 1.75 times, respectively. A technical team visited these areas within 15 h of the first earthquake. The purpose of this article is to present their observations, findings, and the characteristics of the two earthquakes, with comprehensive site survey results supported by photographs. This study concludes that most of the collapsed and severely/moderately damaged buildings in the region were built between 1975 and 2000, when site inspections were rare or non-existent. In addition to the high PGAs recorded in these earthquakes, it was verified that the design and construction of these buildings did not fully comply with the earthquake codes valid at the time. The collapsed buildings and their damage patterns confirm inadequate development length, violation of bending stirrup ends at 135°, deficiencies in construction materials and reinforcement configuration, noncompliance with confinement zones, violation of the strong beam-stronger column analogy, and issues related to building inspection. Based on the extent of the damage, it is strongly recommended that the structural performance inspection of all other buildings located near major fault lines, specifically those constructed between 1975 and 2000, should be completed. Since these earthquakes generated much higher PGAs, which is believed to be one of the main reasons for the extensive damage, a re-evaluation of all other PGAs along major fault lines is also recommended.

Ethical analysis of architecture on structural irregularities in major earthquakes in Turkey

“…In the literature, the studies on earthquakes and irregularities are in the majority, whereas the studies on earthquakes and ethics are quite few. For this study, the losses in Marmara Earthquake and earthquakes in the past 20 years were examined (Özmen, 2000;Düzgün, 2001;Akıncıtürk, 2003;Kalafat, 2003;Dirik, 2003;Karas in and Karaesmen, 2005;Alan et al, 2011;Güney, 2011;Nurlu, 2012;Koç, 2016;Ça glayan, 2020a, 2020bMertol, 2020). Structural damages were taken into account among the damages encountered in these earthquakes.…”

“…According to the statement made by AFAD as a result of the earthquake, a total of 41 people died and approximately 1,600 people were injured in Elazig and Malatya provinces. After the earthquake, a total of 14,366 buildings were damaged, including 10,059 in Elazig and 4,307 in Malatya (Mertol, 2020). Elazig city centre is the residential area with the highest loss of life as a result of the earthquake.…”

“…moderately damaged buildings in Elazig, and 558 buildings to be demolished have been identified (Mertol, 2020).…”

Seismic Damages in Masonry Structural Walls and Solution Suggestions

“…These are some of the studies that include the evaluation of damage to masonry structures after the 2007-Ankara [33], 2010-Elazığ [34], 2011-Van [35,36], 2019-Elazığ [37], 2004-Ağrı [38] and 2020-Elazığ [39] earthquakes. In addition, studies on the effects of the Kahramanmaraş earthquake couple on structures with different types of structural systems have found their place in the literature [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52].…”

“…Academic Platform Journal of Natural Hazards and Disaster Management 4(2),[49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64] 2023 …”