6 Şubat 2023 Kahramanmaraş Depremleri ve Mevcut Konut Stoğunun Güvenliği

Türkiye, whose building stock mainly comprises low- and medium-rise reinforced concrete buildings, has been exposed to many earthquakes throughout its history. On February 6, 2023, two of the most devastating seismic events occurred in Kahramanmaraş province nine hours apart. Approximately 311,000 buildings in 11 provinces collapsed or received heavy and moderate damage. Regarding structural performance, it was concluded that almost 17.5% of the building stock in the region was in the “Collapse” and “Collapse Prevention” status. The large number of buildings that went under “total collapse” during the earthquakes was the biggest reason for the high loss of life in the earthquake sequence, in which 53,537 people lost their lives and 107,213 were injured in Türkiye. This paper discusses the “total collapse” phenomenon, frequently encountered in earthquakes in the country’s history, after explaining the characteristics of the February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquakes. Accelerating the rapid assessment, strengthening, and reconstruction of the existing building stock is of great importance for the safety of life and property to reduce the risk of earthquakes in Türkiye, which is located in one of the most seismically active regions in the world and experiences moderate to major earthquakes almost every decade