PSI - Issue 78

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 78 (2026) 1895–1902

XX ANIDIS Conference Seismic vulnerability of deficient RC buildings: insights from the February 6, 2023, turkey earthquake Yavuz Yadim a , Salih Yılmaz b , Hasan Kaplan c , Marco Corradi d , Giulio Castori e, *

a Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FB, UK b Institute for Civil and Environmental Engineering, Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, 8640 Rapperswil, Switzerland c Prof Kaplan Construction Ltd. Sti., Denizli, Turkey d Department of Engineering and Technology, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK e Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Via Duranti 93, 06125, Perugia, Italy

© 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of XX ANIDIS Conference organizers Keywords: Turkey Earthquakes; Seismic vulnerability; Reinforced concrete structures; Structural deficiencies; Building code enforcement Abstract On February 6, 2023, two significant seismic events with moment magnitudes (M w ) of 7.8 and 7.5 struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, centered near Pazarcık and Elbistan in KahramanmarasProvince. These earthquakes affected over 15 million people and severely damaged reinforced concrete (RC) buildings across ten major cities, including Kahramanmaras , Hatay, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, and Gaziantep, resulting in over 817,000 residential units either collapsed or heavily damaged. This study evaluates the seismic vulnerabilities highlighted by these earthquakes, focusing on structural deficiencies, such as inadequate shear reinforcement, poor beam-column joint detailing, insufficient confinement, and substandard construction practices. Additionally, geotechnical issues, particularly liquefaction and differential settlement, along with architectural irregularities, such as soft stories and short columns, significantly exacerbated structural failures. This research identifies critical gaps in construction code enforcement, professional training, and regulatory oversight, emphasizing the urgent need for enhanced seismic vulnerability assessments and more rigorous regulatory frameworks.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-075-585-3906. E-mail address: giulio.castori@unipg.it

2452-3216 © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of XX ANIDIS Conference organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2025.12.241