Preliminary report of field reconnaissance on the 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaras Earthquakes in Turkiye

Abstract

On February 6, a successive rupture of major faults in the Eastern Anatolian Fault Zone and Cardak-Surgu fault triggered a strong mainshock (M-w 7.7) and a major aftershock (M-w 7.6) in Kahramanmaras. The successive earthquake sequence hit southern provinces in Turkiye and northern regions in Syria, causing severe fatality and economic loss. After the earthquakes, the International Consortium on Geo-disaster Reduction (ICGdR) organized an investigation team, involving specialists from China, Japan and Turkiye, to conduct a primary field reconnaissance on seismic damage of infrastructure and ground failures. The 10-day reconnaissance, including a mini-symposium at the Istanbul Technical University (ITU), was conducted from 25 March to 3 April and specifically focused on fault ruptures, liquefaction, landslide, rockfall and lateral spreading along the major ruptured faults from Antakya in Hatay to Goksun in Kahramanmaras, passing through provinces of Gaziantep, Adiyaman and Malatya. By this reconnaissance, a large amount of original seismic data was collected and a primary understanding was established for further steps on mitigation and reduction of seismic damages and its secondary geohazards.