Seismic Resistance and Performance Evaluation of Masonry Dwellings After the February 6, 2023, Kahramanmaraş Earthquake Sequence in Türkiye

Abstract

On February 6, 2023, two catastrophic earthquakes occurred on the East Anatolian Fault. The earthquakes had magnitudes of Mw = 7.7 and 7.6 and struck Kahramanmaraş-Pazarcık and Kahramanmaraş-Elbistan, respectively. The Kahramanmaraş-Pazarcık earthquake was triggered at 04:17 local time on the Dead Sea Fault (a branch of the East Anatolian Fault). The last earthquake on the addressed fault occurred about 500 years ago. The recorded peak ground acceleration (PGA) at the Pazarcık station reached 2.05g. In addition, the Pazarcık earthquake triggered two independent earthquakes, the Nurdağı and Islahiye earthquakes, which occurred 10 min later than the Pazarcık earthquake. However, the last earthquake, with its epicenter in Kahramanmaraş-Elbistan, struck at 13:24 local time. The recorded PGA for the Elbistan earthquake is 0.68g. This study aims to present the fault rupture mechanism of the February 6, 2023, Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, earthquake characteristics, and to evaluate the performance of masonry dwellings during the Kahramanmaraş earthquake doublet, which affected 10 provinces and numerous towns and villages. This paper also aims to illustrate the damage and failure mechanisms of the masonry dwellings, despite unexpectedly high accelerations that exceeded the design spectrum in the field, specifically in Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Hatay, and Malatya, according to the current earthquake code in use.