Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Milan, İtalya, 30 Haziran - 05 Temmuz 2024, cilt.1, sa.2, ss.1-12
On February 6, 2023, two catastrophic earthquakes with magnitude (M_w) 7.8 and 7.5 occurred on different fault lines, struck the southeastern part of Turkiye, and resulted in widespread damage with more than 50000 casualties in 11 provinces having more than 118000 area. In the last 1000 years, historical earthquakes have not shown similar complex source characteristics triggering multiple-earthquake mechanisms on different fault lines to such an extent. The 2023 Pazarcik and the Elbistan earthquake occurred in nine hours with the aftershock sequences. The primary objective of this paper is to provide early observations from the reconnaissance study of the disaster region with particular emphasis on building damage surveys, ground motion characteristics, functionality of industrial buildings, and critical facilities like health care facilities. Most of the damaged buildings in the urban areas were mid-rise reinforced concrete frames with unreinforced masonry infill walls. Damage patterns and total collapse of mid-rise buildings have highlighted the inadequate structural performance during the cascading events. Weather conditions and urgent shelter needs in the disaster region yielded rapid measures and assessment of damaged buildings to reduce the recovery time. Some of the healthcare facilities having significant importance during the 72 hours could not maintain their functionality due to non-structural damage. Business interruption of industrial buildings and total and partial collapses of cultural heritages were observed in Hatay, Kahramanmaras, and Gaziantep.