###### Abstract
The authors recommended a comprehensive reassessment of older buildings and adherence to modern codes to ensure Life Safety. [PERSON] et al. [7] investigated the structural damage in the Hatay province caused by the Kahramanmaras earthquakes on 6 February 2023. The response of buildings was evaluated, focusing on steel structures and reinforced concrete. Several issues were found, including neglected corrosion, weak shear reinforcements, poor-quality concrete, and strong beam-weak column failure. The study also pointed out design errors such as torsional response, a bounding effect, short column failure, rigidity differences, and weak stories. The study underscored that a combination of poor design, inadequate construction practices, and challenging soil conditions played a major role in the widespread damage in the Hatay province. This literature review suggests that the widespread damage was primarily due to a lack of compliance with the Turkish Earthquake Codes (TECs), such as TEC-1975 [8], TEC-1998 [9], and TBEC-2018 [10]. This study provides a unique comparison of buildings designed under TEC-1975 and TEC-1998, examining their performance during the 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaras earthquake. Unlike previous research, which often emphasizes field observations, this work applies nonlinear time history analysis to evaluate both older and newer buildings, with a focus on the improvements in regulations over time. The study thoroughly analyzes compliance gaps, demonstrating that, despite advances in regulations, non-adherence continues to be a significant factor in building failure. The findings offer practical insights for enhancing code enforcement and reducing earthquake-related damage, both in Turkey and in other regions facing similar challenges. Over the decades, Turkish seismic design regulations have undergone major revisions in response to lessons learned from past earthquakes. TEC-1975 provided only basic strength-based design rules and lacked explicit requirements for ductility, confinement detailing, or the evaluation of structural irregularities. In contrast, TEC-1998 introduced critical improvements, including the definition of ductility classes, stricter detailing rules for transverse reinforcement (e.g., confinement zones and reduced stirrup spacing), and the classification of plan and elevation irregularities. TBEC-2018 further modernized seismic design by adopting performance-based assessment principles, establishing explicit damage thresholds, and incorporating nonlinear analysis methods. Despite the updating of regulations in Turkey (TEC 1975, TEC 1998, TBEC 2018), the loss of lives and property in all major earthquakes is significantly higher than in other countries, suggesting a lack of compliance with Turkish construction practices. The aim of this study is to examine buildings constructed in accordance with the 1975 and 1998 regulations and demonstrate that, regardless of the magnitude of the earthquake, the loss of more than 50,000 lives due to the damage and collapse of reinforced concrete buildings should not have occurred with our present engineering knowledge. For this purpose, 30 reinforced concrete frame buildings representing the 1975 regulations and 30 representing the 1998 regulations were empirically modeled in SAP2000 [11]. For the buildings with the 1975 regulations, C16-S220 materials were selected, whereas C25-S420 materials were used for the buildings with the 1998 regulations. The designs did not include reinforced concrete shear walls, and the buildings were considered as only frames. The lateral reinforcement spacing was set to 20 cm for the older buildings (TEC-1975) and 10 cm for more recent buildings (TEC-1998). This study aims to evaluate the seismic performance and code compliance of reinforced concrete buildings in Turkey designed according to TEC-1975 and TEC-1998. Sixty representative buildings were modeled and analyzed using 3D nonlinear time history simulations, with ground motions scaled to the 2023 Kahramanmaras earthquake.