JSCE Journal of Disaster Factsheets, FS2024-E-0002, 2024

Reconnaissance survey on geotechnical damage caused
by February 6, 2023, Kahramanmaraş Earthquake,
Türkiye12

34Seda SENDIR TORISU , Tetsuo TOBITA , Takashi KIYOTA , Ozer CINICIOGLU ,
5

6

7

7

Gokce TONUK , Nikolay MILEV , Juan BRIONES and Othon BRIONES
1

2

Member of JSCE, Civil Engineer, Nuclear Facilities Division, Obayashi Corporation(Shinagawa Intercity Tower B, 2-15-2, Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8502, Japan)
E-mail:torisu.seda.au@obayashi.co.jp

Member of JSCE, Professor, Department of Civil, Environmental and Systems Engineering, Kansai University(3-3-35 Yamate-cho, Suita-shi, Osaka, 564-8680, Japan)
E-mail:tobita@kansai-u.ac.jp
3

Member of JSCE, Professor, Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo(Komaba 4-6-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan)
E-mail:kiyota@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp
45

6Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Bogazici University(Bebek, İstanbul 34342, Türkiye)
E-mail:ozer.cinicioglu@boun.edu.tr

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, MEF University(Huzur Mah., Maslak Ayazağa Cd No:4, Şişli, İstanbul 34396, Türkiye)
E-mail:gokce.tonuk@mef.edu.tr

Chief Assistant Professor, Faculty of Transportation Eng., Geotechnics, University of Architecture, Civil Engineeringand Geodesy(1 Hristo Smirnenski Blvd, Sofia, Bulgaria)
E-mail:n.milev@yoda-bg.com
7

Engineer, Geofizika EIG Ltd.
(ul. „Bratya Pulievi“ 4-6, et. 2, 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria)
E-mail:briones@geofizika.bg

Key Facts
・ Hazard Type: Earthquake
・ Date of the disaster: February 6th, 2023
・ Location of the survey (Lat. Lon., name or address): Islahiye, Tepehan, Iskenderun, Antakya,
Golbasi, Kahramanmaras・ Date of the field survey (if any): March 29th – April 2nd 2023
・ Survey tools (if any): Drone, Digital camera, GPS, Laser rangefinder, Microtremor
・ Key findings: landslides, liquefaction, inundation, settlement, embankment failure
Key Words : Kahramanmaras Earthquake, geotechnical damage, liquefaction, lateral spread, landslide,inundation, settlement

earthquake of Mw 7.6 with a focal depth of 7.0 km in
Elbistan, Kahramanmaraş (epicenter: 38.089N,
37.239E) followed 9 hours later at 13:24 (10:24
GMT) (Fig. 1). A large aftershock of Mw 6.4 followed on February 20 with a focal depth of 21.73 km
in Hatay (epicenter: 36.037N, 36.021E). As a result

1. INTRODUCTION
A major earthquake of Mw 7.7 with a focal depthof 8.6 km has struck Pazarcık, Kahramanmaraş,Türkiye (epicenter: 38.288N, 37.043E) on February
6, 2023 at 4:17 (1:17 GMT)1). A second major
1

JSCE Journal of Disaster Factsheets, FS2024-E-0002, 2024of these earthquakes 11 cities with a total populationof 14,013,196 people have been affected.
These earthquakes have led to loss of 50,783 lives
and also great economical losses by the devastationof several structures2, 3). A geotechnical reconnaissance team supported by the Japan Society of Civil
Engineers and the Japanese Geotechnical Society
took part in the survey led by the Architectural Institute of Japan. This report summarizes the observations of the geotechnical team.
The recorded strong motions given in this reportbelong to the first earthquake with Mw 7.7 at Pazarcik, Kahramanmaras. In Fig.1 locations coveredin the reconnaissance study are marked with red circles, while the epicenters of the 6th February
Earthquakes are marked with stars on the Türkiye
Earthquake Hazard Map, which is accessible on
AFAD4) website with active faults marked by active
fault study of MTA5).
The reconnaissance survey was carried out withthe schedule given in Table 1.

Table 1 The schedule of reconnaissance survey.

Date

Damage, city

29/03
/2023

Damage to road embankment, Highway O-52

30/03

Reclaimed land and Cay Neighbourhood in
Iskenderun District, Hatay

31/03

Rockfall and landslide dam in Islahiye
Landslide at Tepehan, Altinozu District, Hatay
Antakya District, Hatay

01/04

Golbasi district, Adiyaman
Damage to the road and retaining structure on
the Malatya-Golbasi Yolu

02/04

Onikisubat and Dulkadiroglu Districts,
Kahramanmaras

the east, and the Baer-Bassit range predominantlywith Cretaceous ophiolite and Miocene rock units tothe south. The residential areas heavily affected arelocated in the units that belong to the Quaternary in
the graben, which generally consists of alluvial fans,alluvium, and basaltic compound volcanic rocks.
Due to Arabian and African tectonic plates and Anatolian block intersect in this region, various topographic features such as river valleys, mountain
ranges and plateaus are formed with high seismicity.
In this region, East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ),
Dead Sea Fault Zone (DSFZ) and Karasu Fault
System (KFS) are the main fault zones6)7).

3.

GEOTECHNICALDAMAGES IN THE
REGIONRELATED
AFFECTED

In this section the geotechnical related damages
observed in the affected region is reported, startingfrom the cities visited at the north of the region
moving to the south and observations made along theroad is summarized.

Fig. 1 Türkiye Earthquake Hazard Map of the region coveredin this study with epicenters of the 6th February earthquakes(after AFAD4), Active faults by MTA (2012)5)).

(1) Golbasi District, Adiyaman
Golbasi is a district of Adiyaman City, located in
the southeastern part of Türkiye with a surface areaof 784 km2 at an altitude of 866.8 m above sea level.
While early research has interpreted the formation of
Golbasi basin as a pull apart structure or a fault
wedge basin, in a recent study it was discussed thatthe basin is an abandoned large faulted valley8).
Suitability of the Golbasi district as a settlement area
was reported by Akil et al.9) by discussing geologicaland geotechnical properties in the region. As a result

2.
REGIONALGEOLOGYAND
TOPOGRAPHY OF THE AFFECTEDAREAThe affected region lies in the southeastern part of
Türkiye. The general topography of the region is avalley surrounded by uplifted mountains from
Kahramanmaraş to Antakya, where the Amanos
mountains with pre-Cambrian to Eocene rock units
located to the west, Southeastern Anatolian Mountain range with Cretaceous to Miocene rock units to2

JSCE Journal of Disaster Factsheets, FS2024-E-0002, 2024

was stated that in case a structure is built on such anarea, then the foundation should be designed towithstand effects of liquefaction or soil improvement
should be performed.
During our survey, we observed many settled andtilted midrise buildings as typically shown in Fig.2
and Fig.3, due to the effect of liquefaction andbearing capacity loss. The largest observed settlement was about 1.5 m, which resulted in parked cars
crashed under the 1st floor balcony level (Fig.4).
Another structure with a 0.8 m thick mat foundation
tilted until it leaned against the neighboring building.
Ejected soil (Fig.5), which was mainly reddish-colored silt and clay was also observed with aplasticity index of 17.7. Additionally lateral spread in
the region surrounding the Golbasi lake was observed.
It was not only the old buildings, but several newly
built structures also experienced similar types oftilting and subsidence related damages. The region isclassified as suitable for a settlement with earthquake
hazard precautions, meaning that adequate soil investigations before construction and adequate designand construction of a foundation accordingly is desirable. Since the observations in the region showed
the existence of ground with liquefaction potential,
these precautions listed above should be followed
strictly for the future structures.

of their study, two main regions are classified in the
district as Quaternary alluvium and swamp sedimentregion, where the settlement is allowed in the alluvium region with precautions such as detailed groundinvestigation at each parcel and designing foundationaccordingly. In this region, some parts were classified as medium level for susceptibility to liquefaction, where groundwater level was high (1-3 m below
ground level (bgl)) and deposited with medium-dense sands and gravelly soils. Additionally, it

Fig. 2 Tilted houses in Golbasi, Adiyaman due to effect ofliquefaction (37.79035N, 37.6519E).

(2) Onikisubat and Dulkadiroglu District,Kahramanmaras
Kahramanmaras city located in the central southeastern region of Türkiye, is a tectonic-based basinwith the central region of city located on the quaternary alluviums dominantly, which are mainlycomposed of loose textured and cementlessgray/light gray, gravel, sand, and silt, with a thickness reaching up to 300 m. Groundwater level in thecentral region of the city vary between 0-15 m bgl,
begin relatively higher in the southern part of thisregion10,11).

Fig. 3 Tilted houses in Golbasi, Adiyaman due to effect ofliquefaction (37.787739N, 37.643769E).

Fig. 4 Parked cars crashed under the settled building(37.787861N, 37.643083E).

Fig. 6 A view of plain and hilly region of central
Kahramanmaras (from a hill at 37.60141N, 36.91263E).

Fig. 6 is a view of Dulkadiroglu and Onikisubat
Districts (from a hill at 37.60141N, 36.91263E) that
forms the central part of Kahramanmaras City. Although both districts were affected by the earthquake,
more severity was observed in the area circled with a

Fig. 5 A sample of ejected soil (37.788194N, 37.642861E).
3JSCE Journal of Disaster Factsheets, FS2024-E-0002, 2024

red line, which is located on the plain region. Being
the central part of the metropolitan city, this region
was as densely populated as the hilly region on theright side of the photo. Since several structures have
either collapsed or demolished due to being heavily
damaged, which resulted in clear observation of thedifferent damage levels in the plain and the hilly area.
Although it is hard to conclude that the damages are
due to the ground effect only, it is clear that groundeffect contributed to the damage level observed in theregion.
Fig. 8 Landslide at Degirmencik Creek Basin in Islahiye,
Gaziantep (37.00537N, 36.59151E).

Fig. 7 A well-performed reinforced earth retaining wall with adamage occurred during the demolishing works of heavily
damaged building nearby (37.57320N, 36.91964E).

The photo of the damaged region given in Fig. 7
was taken at Ebrar housing estate consists of 12
blocks, of which 8 totally collapsed and 4 heavily
damaged, each block with 10 floors with 4 flats eachfloor (total of 320 flats totally collapsed). Tobita etal.12) reported that the dominant period of this damaged site was about 0.24 s, longer than any other sites
they measured in Dulkadiroglu and Onikisubat Districts. Although the reinforced earth retaining wall
performed well during the earthquake, the damage
seen in the photo happened during the demolishingworks of the heavily damaged buildings.

Fig. 9 Recorded strong motion1) at Station 2718 (37.00777N,
36.6266E).

(3) Landslide in İslahiye
Fig. 8 shows a landslide triggered by the earthquake which resulted in formation of a natural dam at
Degirmencik Creek Basin in Islahiye. Observations
were made by a drone at a bauxite mine, which is on
the top of the mountain where the landslide had
happened. This basin is primarily composed of
Paleozoic dolomites, Mesozoic limestones, andQuaternary slope debris-cone, alluvial, and basalt
units13). The altitude in the landslide region is aroundbetween 550 m to 1084 m above the sea level.
Nearest recording at Station 2718 around 3 km
distance from the landslide is shown in Fig. 9 andmaximum recorded acceleration is 654 cm/s2. BothFig. 10 Rockfall in Idilli (36.99072N, 36.57813E).
4JSCE Journal of Disaster Factsheets, FS2024-E-0002, 2024

spread and several ejected sands were also observedin this area. In Fig. 12 cracks on the road around the
manholes are observed in longitudinal direction to
the seaside. Seven months after the earthquake there
were TV reports showing the region was still inundated16).
The collapsed structure in Fig. 13 was a structure
consisting of two blocks, which was completed in
2019. First block collapsed by the effect of the firstearthquake, while the second block lost the stairs andtotally collapsed by the effect of the second earthquake18). A ground investigation in this region reported that the ground is mainly formed of quaternary silty sand and sandy clayey silt, which is formed

the road and the stream between Idilli and
Degirmencik neighborhood was blocked with thelandslide and a natural dam lake was formed. Since
there is a risk of flooding The General Directorate ofState Hydraulic Works (DSI) opened a spillway andthe 15 m water level decreased to 6 m within fivemonths14).
In Idilli, rockfall was also observed as shown in Fig.
10 at around 2 km distance from the abovementioned
landslide and the observed type of rock was dolomite.
(4) Iskenderun District, Hatay
Iskenderun is a port town of Hatay province located in southern Türkiye with town center at a 4 m
altitude. In Iskenderun, the general ground formationis Quaternary alluviums including silt and sandy
layers with liquefaction risk15).
The main road called Ataturk Boulevard sits on thereclaimed area in the coastal region of the town. As
shown in Fig. 11 this road is inundated after theearthquake due to severe ground settlement anddamage to the lifelines underneath with liquefaction.
Additionally, water coming out of the manholes andlocal residents removing water with pumps from thebasement of the buildings was observed. LateralFig. 13 A collapsed structure in front of Ramada hotel in
Iskenderun (36.58899N, 36.17712E), photo on the left taken
after first earthquake17), photo on the right during the survey.

Fig.14 Sidewalk damage with the effect of liquefaction(36.58954N, 36.17355E).

Fig. 11 Inundation of Ataturk Boulevard in Iskenderun(36.59280N, 36.16768E).

Fig.15 An example of tilted buildings in Cay Neighborhood,
Iskenderun (36.587222N, 36.176639E).

Fig. 12 Cracks along Ataturk Boulevard in Iskenderun due tolateral spreading.
5

JSCE Journal of Disaster Factsheets, FS2024-E-0002, 2024

takya, while the region on the west of Asi River, thegently sloping hilly areas have an elevation ranging
from 100 to 130 m and consist of Pliocene sediments,
called New Antakya. Average altitude of the city isaround 80 m21).
Over et al.22) has reported a borehole in New Antakya region, consisting of 0-2m bgl landfill, 2-4m
bgl silt with sand and clay, 4-17m bgl sand with silt
and sand, with groundwater around 3m bgl averagely
and located at a region where natural period of theground is less than 0.2 s. Fig. 17 shows the heavily
damaged structures near the borehole location. Tobita et al.12) reported that H/V spectral periods were0.03 sec and 0.14 sec at Figs. 17 a and b, respectively.

due to abrasion, weathering, erosion and sedimentation of the Miocene claystone, sandstone and conglomerate in the region. Ground profiles of boreholes
generally consist of fill up to 1.5 m deep, followed bysilty sand layer up to 20 m deep, and groundwaterlevel is 1 m bgl with high salt content. The predominant ground periods are reported to be 0.64 to 0.7s
with Vs30 being 239 to 263 m/s19).
At several locations sidewalk damage with liquefaction was also observed (Fig. 14). Additionally,
there were differential settlements and tilting ofseveral structures (Fig. 15).
(5) Antakya District, Hatay
Antakya district (shaded with yellow in Fig. 16
based on Emre et al. (2012)20)) is located to the east
and west of the Asi River, in the valley that continues
south after crossing the Amik Plain. The boundaries
between the mountainous areas in the north, composed of rocks with different geological ages, and theplain is represented by the faults (Fig. 16). The region located between the Asi River through the skirts

(a)

(b)
Fig. 17 Heavily damaged buildings in Antakya; (a)36.19846N, 36.15393E (b) 36.20186N, 36.16133E.

The values of the natural periods are favorable forstructures in terms of earthquake engineering; however, the observed heavy damage rate might be due tothe basin effect causing localized amplifications ofsurface waves, which will be clarified with further
detailed studies.
Several structures in Antakya were either totallycollapsed or heavily damaged (Fig. 17) and the removal of debris was under effect during the survey.
Similar to Kahramanmaras, damaged structures wereconcentrated in the plain and the damage rate wasdecreasing through the hilly region. Yet, it is difficult
to conclude that the observed damage was only due
to ground effect, but it did clearly contribute to thehigh damage rate. Since the effect was similar in both
Kahramanmaras and Antakya, rather ground being
the only reason to the damages, an appropriately

Fig. 16 Location of Antakya City and active faults in theregion20) with the location of the strong motion stations(marked with a red star).

of Habibi Neccar Mountain (its steep slopes vary
between 100 and 250 m in height) is called Old An6

JSCE Journal of Disaster Factsheets, FS2024-E-0002, 2024

sandstones within Tepehan Formation is light grayish-brown, while the freshly broken surface is yellowish-beige in color, which was also observed asshown in Fig. 19 during the survey.
The unit is generally loosely cemented, with cal-Table 2 Maximum absolute acceleration of recorded strong
motion at Antakya1).
StationLocation

Maximum absolute
acceleration (cm/s2)
NS

EW

UD

3123

36.15973E, 36.21423N

652

581

840

3132

36.17159E, 36.20673N

501

508

356

3131

36.16328E, 36.19121N

356

354

146

3129

36.13430E, 36.19117N

1161

1198

716

Fig. 19 A close up of top part of Tepehan landslide(36.1609N, 36.2211E)

cium carbonate (CaCO3) acting as the cementing
material. Locals have recovered several fishbone
fossils after the landslide from the freshly cut layers.
The thickness of the Tepehan Formation is reported
to vary between 200 to 500 m and the formation is
identified as Middle Miocene24).

Fig. 18 Recorded strong motion1) at Station 3129 (36.19117N,
36.6266E).

designed and constructed structure taking into account the ground conditions that they are built on,
could be the main reason for the increased damagerate.
A list of the maximum absolute accelerations
recorded in the region and the time history of Station
3129 are given in Table 2 and Fig. 18, respectively.
While highest maximum absolute accelerations wereobserved in the basin region (i.e. Stations 3123,
3129), getting closer to the mountain region (i.e.
Stations 3132, 3131) maximum absolute accelerations were smaller.
Fig. 20 Recorded strong motion1) at Station 3136 (36.11593N,
36.24722E)(6) Tepehan, Altinozu District, Hatay
In Tepehan, a large slope failure at an olive field
was observed (Fig. 19). In this region, Tepehan
formation is mainly represented by sandstone andclayey limestone23). The weathered surface of the

The hills surrounding the landslide are quite mild
slopes and the slope of the landslide was approxi7

JSCE Journal of Disaster Factsheets, FS2024-E-0002, 2024

mately 4˚. The landslide affected 500 m long and 100
to 150 m wide region and soil blocks moved while
retaining their shapes, which are similar features
observed in 2008 Aratozawa landslide25). Hence thelandslide may have occurred due to the presence of a
weak thin layer almost parallel to the surface which
is weakened with the effect of the earthquake andresulted in soil blocks above to move while retaining
their shapes.
Although there was not any station at the landslide
location, the nearest station is Station 3136 (location
shown in Fig. 16) in Altinozu, at 5.49km southeast of
the Tepehan landslide. The recorded strong motion at
this station is shown in Fig. 20.
(7) Observations in between cities on the road
Approach embankment of an overpass bridgecrossing the O-52 highway between Gaziantep andNurdagi experienced a severe settlement damage atboth north and south side of the highway. The settlement damage at the north side of the highway isshown in Fig. 21(a), and the cross-section of theembankment became visible at the north side withthe settlement of the road is shown in Fig. 21(b). Thisdamage is considered to have happened with thelateral spreading of the embankment as a result ofliquefaction of its foundation ground, which resulted
in its severe settlement. In fact, a 15 m wide water
channel running along the embankment at a 5 m
distance had around 10 m decrease in its width.

Fig. 22 Recorded strong motion1) at Station 4615 (36.7088N,
37.1123E)

Fig. 23 On the Malatya-Golbasi Road: already repaired roadembankment and damage of retaining wall (37.86332N,
37.76760E)(a)(b)
Fig. 21 (a) Settlement damage of the embankment observed
during the survey (37.28379N, 37.11392E) (b) a cross-sectionof the embankment

4. CONCLUSIONSThe strong motion recorded at Station 4615, which
is about 11.7 km north of the damaged embankment
is given in Fig. 22 with maximum absolute accelerations of 585 cm/s2 NS and 657 cm/s2 UD.
In Fig. 23 already repaired road embankment,
which was reported to be damaged during theearthquake26) and the damage of retaining wall on theMalatya-Golbasi Road is shown. This damage ispossibly due to the liquefaction induced lateral
spread towards Goksu stream running along the roadembankment.

In this paper, a summary of the observations madeby the geotechnical members of a collaborative reconnaissance team of researchers and engineers fromJapan and Türkiye who conducted a survey fromMarch 28 to April 2, 2023 are reported. The findings
during this survey are as follows:
1. In Golbasi and Iskenderun, liquefaction induced settlement and tilt of structures, lateral
spread, and sand boils are observed.
2. In Kahramanmaras and Antakya, concentra8

JSCE Journal of Disaster Factsheets, FS2024-E-0002, 2024
%C4%B1n%C4%B1%20kaybeden%20g%C3%B6%C3%
A7men%20say%C4%B1s%C4%B1n%C4%B1n,devam%20edenlerin%20toplam%C4%B1%20ise%20985. (last access on Novermber 2023), 2023.
4) AFAD
Türkiye
Earthquake
HazardMap,
https://tdth.afad.gov.tr/TDTH/main.xhtml, (last accessed on
September 2023), 2023.
5) Emre, Ö., Duman.T.Y., Özalp, S., Elmacı, H., Olgun, Ş.
And Şaroğlu, F.: Türkiye Diri Fay Haritası. Maden Tetkik
ve Arama Genel Müdürlüğü, Ankara-Türkiye, 2012.
6) Ozmen, O.T., Yamanaka, H., Alkan, M.A., Ceken, U.,
Ozturk, T. and Sezen, A.: Microtremor array measurements
for shallow S-Wave profiles at strong-motion stations in
Hatay and Kahramanmaras Provinces. Southern Turkey
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 107,
No. 1, pp. 445–455, doi: 10.1785/0120160218, 2017.
7) Rojay, B., Heimann, A. and Toprak, V.: Neotectonic andvolcanic characteristics of the Karasu fault zone (Anatolia,
Turkey): The transition zone between the Dead Sea transform and the East Anatolian fault zone. Geodinamica Acta,
14:1-3, 197-212, DOI: 10.1080/09853111.2001.11432444,
2001.
8) Yonlu, O., Altunel, E., Karabacak, V. and Akyuz, H. S.:
Evolution of the Golbasi basin and its implications for the
long-term offset on the East Anatolian Fault Zone, Turkey,
Journal of Geodynamics, Vol. 65, pp. 272-281,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jog.2012.04.013, 2013.
9) Akil, B., Akpinar, K., Uckardesler, C., Araz, H., Saglam, M.,
Ecemis, B., and Uran, S. B.: Evaluation of Settlement
Suitability of Golbasi (Adiyaman) Town, located on the
East Anatolian Fault Zone, Türkiye Jeoloji Bulteni-Geological Bulletin of Turkey, 51(1), 43-57, 2008.
10) Cabalar, A. F., Canbolat, A., Akbulut, N., Tercan, S.H. andIsik, H.: Soil liquefaction potential in Kahramanmaras,
Turkey, Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, 10(1):1822-1838, DOI: 10.1080/19475705.2019.1629106, 2019.
11) Naji, D. M., Akin, M.K. and Cabalar, A.F.: A Comparative
Study on the VS30 and N30 Based Seismic Site Classification in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, Advances in Civil Engineering, Vol. 2020, Article ID 8862827, 15pp, DOI:
10.1155/2020/8862827, 2020.
12) Tobita, T, Kiyota, T., Torisu, S., Cinicioglu, O., Tonuk, G.,
Milev, N., Contreras, J., Contreras, O., and Shiga, M. : Geotechnical damage survey report on February 6, 2023,
Turkey-Syria Earthquake, Turkey, Soils and Foundations(submitted), 2023.
13) Sinan, M. : Hassa-Islahiye arasinda gelisen birikinti
konilerinin jeomorfolojik ozellikleri ve arazi kullanim durumu, Master thesis, Mustafa Kemal University, pp. 62-65,
2018.
14) TRT Haber, Depremden sonra doğal göl oluştu,https://www.trthaber.com/haber/turkiye/marketten-10-saatt
e-cikarilan-sansar-dogaya-salindi-787293.html, (last accesson November 2023), 2023.
15) Toktanis, A. and Over, S. : Konarli Mahallesi’nde (Iskenderun) sivilasma pilot calismasi, Geosound, 54(1): 1-11,
2021.
16) CNNTurk, Deprem sonrası meydan bu hale geldi! Anıt
Meydanısu
altındakaldı,
https://www.cnnturk.com/video/turkiye/anit-meydaninda-s
u-baskini, (last access on November 2023), 2023.
17) Photo of damaged MCG Tower after first earthquake,https://twitter.com/Veyskap/status/1622605955513851906, (last access on November 2023), 2023.
18) Artigercek, MCG Tower’ın iki kulesi de çöktü: Müteahhiti
2 yıl önce drone destekli operasyonla yakalanmış,https://artigercek.com/guncel/mcg-towerin-iki-kulesi-de-co
ktu-muteahhiti-2-yil-once-drone-destekli-operasyonla-240
982h, (last access on November 2023), 2023.
19) Kanat, M. : Iskenderun District, Hatay province, Ground
Investigation Report in Parcel 2036, (in Turkish), 2013.
20) Emre, O, Duman, T.Y and Olgun, S. : 1:250.000 Scaleactive fault map series of Turkey, Antakya (NJ 37-13)
Quadrangle, Serial Number: 39, General Directorate ofMineral Research and Exploration, Ankara-Turkey, 2012.
21) Dinc, Y. : Antakya (Hatay) sehir cografyasi, Master thesis,
Mustafa Kemal University: pp. 37, 2015.
22) Over, S., Buyuksarac, A. and Bekta, O. : Assessment oftion of building damage in the plain region isobserved, while there was a less damage ratein the hilly region. Although change in damage rate can be attributed to the ground conditions, it is difficult to conclude this as the
only reason for the damages. However, theimportance of appropriately designed andconstructed structures by taking into accountthe ground conditions that they are built on can
be clearly emphasized depending on theseobservations.
3. In Islahiye, formation of a natural dam due tothe landslide and mitigation for the removal ofwater in the formed lake is observed. Since
there are settlements downstream, this landslide dam should be monitored against thebreaching risk.
4. In Tepehan, a landslide of a gentle slope occurred in a vast area. Since the soil blocks
moved without losing their shapes, the possibility of a weak layer parallel to the groundsurface is discussed.
5. Several road embankments were damaged by
the earthquake. In particular, damages wereobserved on the road embankments where awater channel/river running alongside the road,which were caught in the liquefaction-induced
lateral spreading of their foundation.
These findings provide valuable lessons learnt andshed a light on the mechanism of earthquake related
damages on the geotechnical structures. Additionally, vulnerabilities can be detected by taking thesefindings as a basis to prepare cities to be more resilient towards seismic risks.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: We would like to express
our deepest condolences to the victims of the
Kahramanmaras earthquake. This survey work was
supported with the finances and logistics provided by
the JSPS (22K21372), AIJ, JSCE and JGS and we arethankful for their continuous support. We also would
like to appreciate all the information provided by both
local people and officials of Kahramanmaras and Iskenderun municipalities on the details of this disastrous
event.
REFERENCES
1)

2)

3)

AFAD-TADAS, https://tadas.afad.gov.tr/ (last access November 2023), 2023.
Damage Control Report by Province: Kahramanmaraş andHatay Earthquakes Report as of 6 March 2023,
https://www.sbb.gov.tr/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2023Kahramanmaras-and-Hatay-Earthquakes-Report.pdf (lastaccess on November 2023), 2023.
TRT Haber, Depremde can kaybı 50 bin 783,
https://www.trthaber.com/haber/gundem/depremde-can-ka
ybi-50-bin-783-762132.html#:~:text=Soylu%2C%20hayat
9JSCE Journal of Disaster Factsheets, FS2024-E-0002, 2024
potential seismic hazard and site effect in Antakya (Hatay
Province), SE Turkey. Environ. Earth Sci., 62:313–326,
doi: 10.1007/s12665-010-0525-3, 2011.
23) Kavuzlu, M. : Altinozu (Antakya) ve yakin civarinin tektono-stratigrafisi, Master thesis, Cukurova University, pp.
45-48, 2006.
24) Selcuk, H. : Kizildag–Keldag–Hatay dolayinin jeolojisi ve
jeodinamik evrimi." M.T.A Rapor No 7787, Ankara, 1985.
25) Miyagi, T., Yamashina, S., Esaka, F., and Abe, S. : Massive
landslide triggered by 2008 Iwate–Miyagi inland earth-quake in the Aratozawa Dam area, Tohoku, Japan. Landslides, 8(1), 99-108, 2011.
26) TRT Haber, Depremin siddetiyle coken yollar onariliyor,
https://www.trthaber.com/foto-galeri/depremin-siddetiyle-coken-yollar-onariliyor/53994.html, (last access on November 2023), 2023.
(Received December 21, 2023)

10