She also knew how much her students would benefit from the information gathered. To view the pictures, click on the thumbnail image to see an enlarged version. The large ruptures in the earth and long duration of shaking felt around the country were evidence of the enormous amount of energy released from the magnitude 7.4 earthquake. The widespread structural damage was also a significant indicator of the severity of the event with entire city blocks reduced to rubble in the matter of seconds. But the lasting effects on the housing and welfare available for the residents is perhaps the most poignant indicator of the tragedy that followed the latest shift of the earth's crust.
Structural engineers can learn a lot from the behavior of buildings and bridges during earthquakes.
In fact, regions of high seismicity are often described as vast laboratories where the performance of existing buildings is used to gauge the effectiveness of existing design provisions for creating earthquake-resistant structures. American engineers have particular interest in earthquakes occurring along the North Anatolian fault because it has similar length and movement as the San Andreas fault in California. The Turkish building code also has many provisions that are similar to guidelines found in U.S. building codes. In response to these issues, selected teams of U.S. engineers and geologists traveled to Turkey in the weeks immediately following the earthquake to study and record the event. Earthquake engineering of reinforced concrete building structures was the focus of my Ph.D. work and the basis for a growing research program at the University of Kansas.