Rapid report of seismic damage to hospitals in the 2023 Turkey earthquake sequences

Abstract

The seismic performance of medical systems is crucial for the seismic resilience of communities. The report summarizes the observed damage to twelve hospital buildings in the area affected by the M_W 7.8 and M_W 7.5 earthquakes on February 6, 2023 in Turkey. They include five base-isolated buildings and seven fixed-base buildings in southcentral Turkey's seven most heavily affected provinces. By relating the post-quake occupancy statuses of the hospitals with the estimated seismic demands during the earthquake doublet, the report offers the following observations: (1) the base-isolated hospital buildings on friction pendulum bearings generally exhibited superior performance of achieving the goal of immediate occupancy and provided better protection for nonstructural elements than fixed-base counterparts did; (2) the fixed-base hospital buildings of reinforced concrete structures constructed after 2001 successfully achieved the goal of collapse prevention even under very high seismic demands; (3) some fixed-base hospitals also remained operational even if they were very close to the fault rupture and were subjected to higher-than-design-level earthquake ground motions.