Field reconnaissance and structural assessment of the October 30, 2020,

Abstract

An earthquake with a magnitude ranging from Mw = 6.9 (KOERI) to Mw = 7.0 (USGS) struck Samos Island in the Aegean Sea on October 30, 2020, with an epicentre 70 kms from the Izmir city centre in Turkey. The earthquake took place at 14:51 local time (11:51 UTC). The peak ground acceleration (PGA) of this earthquake was recorded to be 0.179 g at the epicentre of the earthquake. This earthquake occurred at a depth of 17.26 km (AFAD (2020) Izmir Earthquake Report, (In Turkish)) and lasted 16 s. The main shock from the earthquake triggered a tsunami that hit the building stocks built near the coast. During the gradual deregulation of COVID-19 pandemic regulations, various events caused considerable damage to the building stock, particularly in the Izmir Seferihisar and Bayrakli regions and resulted in a massive disruption of daily habits. The main shock caused 117 deaths in both Turkey and Greece, and 1632 people were also injured in Turkey. Moreover, several injuries occurred in Greece. A total of 103 buildings collapsed, 700 were severely damaged, 814 buildings were moderately damaged, and 7889 were slightly damaged. The basic aim of this paper is to briefly present the past and present seismotectonic characteristics of the region, present building stock, and former structural conditions before the earthquake, assess structural performance and classify distinguished earthquake-induced failures and damage due to the basin effect.

C1 [Onat, Onur] Inonu Univ, Civil Engn Dept, TR-44280 Malatya, Turkey.

[Yon, Burak; Cemalgil, Selim] Munzur Univ, Civil Engn Dept, TR-62000 Tunceli, Turkey.

[Oncu, Mehmet Emin; Karasin, Abdulhalim] Dicle Univ, Civil Engn Dept, TR-21280 Diyarbakir, Turkey.

[Varolgunes, Sadik] Bingol Univ, Civil Engn Dept, TR-12000 Bingol, Turkey.