School Buildings Performance in 7.7 Mw and 7.6 Mw Catastrophic Earthquakes in Southeast of Turkey

Abstract

Although Turkey is located in one of the active earthquake belts of the world, the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes that occurred on February 6, 2023, 9 h apart, as rarely seen in the seismology literature, caused one of the biggest disasters in Turkey's history. In the earthquakes affecting an area of approximately 110,000 square kilometers, serious damage and collapse occurred in public buildings as well as other structures. There are more than 12,000 school buildings in the earthquake-affected area and this number constitutes an important part of public buildings. This article deals with the damage types and causes of various public school buildings that were exposed to the earthquakes in southern Turkey on February 6, 2023. The seismicity of the region and the effects of the 6 February earthquakes were discussed, and the response spectra of the different regions most affected by the earthquakes were compared with the design spectra defined in the codes. In addition, during the field investigation the damage types and causes of damage in school buildings were listed in sections and the observations made with performance based analytical studies were supported. From field reconnaissance, the importance of understanding the deficiencies of school buildings, which have social priority, in order to avoid tragic consequences in possible earthquakes has been revealed.