Evaluation of the cultural heritage buildings in an ancient district of Antakya after the Kahramanmaras earthquakes (Mw 7.7 and Mw 7.6)

Abstract

Abstract This study aims to present field research and evaluate the common failure types for most of the cultural heritage buildings in an ancient district of Antakya (Antioch) after the two consecutive devastating earthquakes occurred in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey on February 6, 2023. The first one occurred at 04:17 (01:17 UTC), a moment magnitude (Mw) 7.7 (AFAD, Disaster, and Emergency Management Presidency), an earthquake occurred in Pazarcık-Kahramanmaraş and it was followed by another earthquake at 13:24 (10:24 UTC), an Mw 7.6 earthquake at Elbistan-Kahramanmaraş. For the post-reconnaissance evaluation of the cultural heritage buildings in Antioch, a field trip was arranged to the site. Since the aftershocks were happening, the field trip was extremely dangerous, especially around damaged or heavily damaged structures. The use of laser scanners made it possible for safer documentation of these structures. The cultural heritage structures studied herein are in an ancient part of Antakya (ancient Antioch) called Kurtuluş Caddesi (Rue Jadid, yeni cadde). Damages on the registered heritage buildings in this study are classified as in different damage levels. One of the most common failure types observed is the out-of-plane movement of the walls. Exhaustion of the in-plane strength capacity of the walls is followed by an out-of-plane mechanism. Many other failure types are either due to the absence of engineering practices or false restoration practices. As a case study, some of these structures are examined by simplified limit analysis and the results are presented. Even though restoring these structures depends on many variables and various stakeholders, a simple guide for restoration is provided for the elimination of similar problems for future events.