## 1 Introduction  
Turkiye has experienced an enormous loss of life and property due to two major earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaras, which occurred at intervals of nine hours. Earthquakes in the East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ), which is one of Turkiye's main tectonic structures, caused very heavy damage in 11 different cities (Figure 1). The first earthquake occurred in Pazzacik, Kahramanmaras (M\({}_{\rm w}\) = 7.7) on 6 February 2023 at 04:17 and lasted for approximately 75 s. The second earthquake occurred on the same day at 13:24 in Elbistan, Kahramanmaras (M\({}_{\rm w}\) = 7.6) and lasted approximately 25 s. Following these earthquakes, more than 10,000 aftershocks have occurred as of 22 March 2023. The highest loss of life and property was observed in Adyaman, Hatay, and Kahramanmaras provinces. Within the scope of this paper, the cause-effect relationships of damage to RC structures in city center, Golbasi, and Kahta districts of Adyaman were examined by the authors as a result of a detailed field investigation. Buildings suffered extensive and widespread damage. Out of a total population of 85 million, it was predicted that the earthquake affected around 14 million individuals. Of those, 1.5 million became homeless, over 105,000 were injured, and over 50,000 were killed. The Turkish government published numbers showing that the cost of earthquake damage to private and state properties was USD 104 billion. Many structures, including RC, masonry, and historical buildings, suffered major damage or collapsed. Determination of the structural damage after an earthquake is important for the continuation of social life, the realistic determination of the earthquake hazard of the settlements, and the development of regulations related to buildings. The collection of data regarding earthquake and civil engineering is important. Damage assessments at this stage should be carried out as quickly and practically as possible. In this work, observational evaluations were made [1; 2; 3; 4]. Each of these and similar studies carried out or to be carried out after an earthquake is considered a case study and can significantly contribute to both practice and academia. Many publications examine the structural damage in reinforced concrete structures in different countries, such as Turkive, due to the loss of life and property caused by disasters, within the framework of cause and effect. [PERSON] et al. [6] reported their observations after the earthquake in Malaysia in 2015. They observed that most of the RC structures in the affected area suffered significant damage. They stated that the major reasons for the failure in reinforced concrete structures are the strong beam and weak column condition, the detailing of the structural components with non-ductile elements, short column effects, and soft-weak story mechanisms. [PERSON] et al. [7] studied the earthquake that caused severe damage with a magnitude of M\({}_{\rm w}\) = 6.3 which struck the SE of Lesvos Island on 12 June 2017. The study aims to present the models of structural damage and collapse caused by the Lesvos earthquake to masonry structures, highlighting the causes and weaknesses or the factors that prevent them. [PERSON] et al. [8] investigated and evaluated the region after the earthquake that affected Mexico City on 19 September 2017. The observations showed that first soft-story buildings are the most common situation  
Figure 1: The affected provinces during the Kahramanmaras earthquakes and representation of Adyaman and studied districts. for collapsed buildings. They also proposed to analyze the seismic damage observed in the study, evaluate the seismic fragility of typical soft-story structures, and propose strengthening alternatives, including braces and energy distribution systems, to increase the seismic capacity of existing buildings. [PERSON] et al. [9] conducted field observations after the earthquake in the district of Sivrice of the province of Elazig on 24 January 2020 and investigated the causes of losses and structural damage.