Strong Earthquakes and Measurement Performance of Masonry and Adobe Structures

Abstract

Earthquakes, which are unavoidable natural phenomena in Turkey, have often produced economic and social disaster. The latest destructive earthquakes happened inVan city. Van, Turkey, earthquakes with M = 7.2 occurredon 23 October 2011 at 13: 41 (local time), whose epicenterwas about 16 km north of Van (Tabanlivillage) and M = 5.6 on 9 November 2011 epicentered near the town of Edremitsouth of Van in eastern Turkey and caused the loss of lifeand heavy damages. Both earthquakes killed 644 peopleand 2608 people were injured. Approximately 4000 buildings collapsed or were seriously damaged. The majority ofthe damaged structures were seismically insufficient, unreinforced masonry and adobe buildings in rural areas. In thispaper, site surveys of the damaged masonry and adobe buildings are presented and the reasons for the caused damagesare discussed in detail.