ICOLD 2023, Gothenburg Sweden: Turkish experience of the February 2023 seismic event

Abstract

This technical briefing provides a summary of the findings and assessments presented by the DSI (State Hydraulic Works, Türkiye) team during the ICOLD 2023 meeting regarding the performance of embankment dams during the seismic events that occurred in February 2023. Two powerful earthquakes with moment magnitudes (Mw) initially estimated to be between 7.5 and 7.8 struck the eastern Anatolian Fault Line, impacting several embankment dams in the region. The seismic activity resulted in significant lateral displacements, settlements and cracks in the embankment dams structures. For the first earthquake, peak acceleration recorded at the nearest station (TK4614 – Pazarcik) was 2.21g, for the second earthquake, the peak acceleration recorded at the nearest station (TK4612 – Goksun) was 0.59g. The presentation at the conference, as reported here, provided valuable insights into the performance of the embankment dams during and after earthquakes.