Investigation of the relationship between the buildings collapsed in February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaras earthquakes and the soil and analysis of the risk of collapse in earthquakes

In this study, the building-ground relationship in the areas affected by the February 6 Kahramanmaras earthquakes was determined, and the risk of building collapse in future earthquakes was analyzed. Remote sensing techniques determined the collapsed building-soil relationship, and the frequency ratio method was applied by utilizing Geographic Information Systems techniques to assess the risk of collapse in earthquakes. According to the research results, 84% of the collapses occurred in flat areas. On the other hand, 49.7% of the collapses occurred in the 0-500 m elevation range. In particular, it was determined that 46% (110.8 km(2)) of the collapsed buildings occurred on alluvial land belonging to the Quaternary period. According to the earthquake frequency analysis of the total 108,812 km(2) area considered in this study, 43.72% of the area is at the Risky level, indicating that a large part of the region is at significant earthquake risk. Moreover, Hatay, Adana, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, Kahramanmaras, and Malatya are the provinces where the risk of collapse of buildings in an earthquake is high. These results reveal the necessity of analyzing by considering many criteria in determining residential areas in provinces at risk of earthquakes.