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  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 7
    Citation - Scopus: 8
    Transferring Technical Knowledge To Turkey: American Engineers, Scientific Experts, and the Erzincan Earthquake of 1939
    (Royal Society Publishing, 2022) Tunc,T.E.; Tunc,G.
    On 27 December 1939, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Erzincan, Turkey, claiming close to 33 000 lives, and leaving 100 000 injured and 250 000 homeless. World War II was in its initial stages, and the USA was particularly concerned about the vulnerable situation in Turkey, since there was a possibility that it would join forces with Germany, as the Ottoman Empire had done in World War I. Consequently, the Turkish request for information on 'a type of quake resistant concrete construction understood to have been developed in California', resulted in a flurry of correspondence between numerous Turkish and American actors, including the US State Department, which supplied this material with notable attentiveness. As this article will argue, this request not only represents an early critical juncture in the transfer of earthquake engineering knowledge from the USA to Turkey, but also illustrates how diplomacy and engineering can intersect at pivotal points in time. Engineers and other scientific experts strengthened the Turkish-American relationship during this period, thereby laying the foundation of the technical cooperation that would flourish during the Cold War. This watershed moment also resulted in immediate developments in Turkey, such as the development of a comprehensive national disaster management programme, a seismic zone map, and earthquake building codes. © 2021 The Author(s).
  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 6
    Patients With Crush Syndrome and Kidney Disease: Lessons Learned From the Earthquake in Kahramanmaras,, Türkiye
    (Elsevier Science inc, 2024) Ozturk, Savas; Tuglular, Serhan; Olmaz, Refik; Kocyigit, Ismail; Kibar, Muge Uzerk; Turgutalp, Kenan; Sever, Mehmet Sukru
    This study investigated in-hospital outcomes and related factors in patients diagnosed with postearthquake crush syndrome after the earthquakes in Kahramanmaras,, T & uuml;rkiye. One thousand twenty-four adult patients diagnosed with crush syndrome were analyzed. and outcomes were collected. A total of 9.8% of patients died during their hospital stay. Nonsurvivors were generally older, more likely to have preexisting chronic kidney disease, and faced more severe injuries and complications, including hypotension-shock, arrhythmias, elevated markers of renal dysfunction, and higher rates of acute kidney injury (AKI) and compartment syndrome. In addition, intensive care unit needs were higher. Multivariate analysis confirmed that age, injury severity, shock, high potassium, uric acid, and lactate levels on admission, development of AKI, compartment syndrome, and intensive care unit admission were significant predictors of mortality. Better disaster preparedness and improved health care infrastructure could be potential explanations for improved in-hospital mortality in the current era, as compared to previous earthquakes.