Evaluation of Earthquake Damages in the Historical Urban Texture of Gaziantep After Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş and Hatay Earthquakes

Gaziantep’te Deprem Hasarları

Abstract

One of the primary risks for cultural heritage buildings in the earthquake zone is earthquake damage. Therefore, essential measures should be taken for cultural heritage buildings to ensure their resistance against a possible earthquake. In this research, it was aimed to document the damages caused by the Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş and Hatay centered earthquakes, which took place in February 2023 and affected 11 provinces, in the historical urban texture of Gaziantep. Additionally, it is aimed to survey whether the renovations made before the earthquakes are effective in the formation of these damages.
The earthquakes that took place caused significant damages to the historical urban texture as well as the new settlement areas in the city. The fact that the renovated-registered buildings were also damaged in the earthquake, caused the necessity of questioning the renovations carried out before the earthquake. Therefore, the research is handled through the registered cultural heritage buildings that were repaired under the supervision of the relevant institutions before the earthquake and damaged after the earthquake. In this way, it has been tried to question whether the renovations have an effect on the earthquake damages. It is aimed that this questioning will be a guide for future renovations in terms of the sustainability of cultural heritage buildings.
Within the scope of the study, initially the conservation practices in the city of Gaziantep were tried to be discussed in a general framework, in addition, the traditional building materials and construction techniques used in the region were evaluated. Afterwards, the buildings damaged in the earthquake were tried to be determined with the site survey. Among the determined buildings, registered, renovated and actively used cultural heritage buildings were selected and the survey-restoration projects of these buildings were obtained from the archives of the relevant institutions. Şirvani Mosque, Karatarla Mosque, Kurtuluş Mosque, Karagöz Mosque, Gaziantep Castle, Bayazhan, Kendirli Church and Zincirli Bedesten, which are important buildings of Gaziantep’s historical urban texture, are the buildings analyzed in this context. The projects obtained from the archives of the institution were examined and the renovation processes carried out in the buildings before the earthquake were determined.
Afterwards, with on-site surveys it was determined in which parts of the buildings the earthquake damage occurred and whether there was any damage in the renovated parts of the building. In this way, it was tried to question whether the devastating effect of the earthquake created a different effect between the original parts of the building and the parts that were renovated. As a result of the evaluations it has been found out that;
• The damages occured in the buildings are commonly in the northeast-southwest direction, which is the direction of the earthquake,
• The damages took place after the earthquake mostly occured in the renewed parts of the buildings,
• Traditional construction techniques were not applied properly during the renovation process,
• Current construction techniques do not provide sufficient resistance against earthquakes,
• The necessary importance have not been given to the reinforcement and structural strengthening methods,
• Maintanence have been prefered rather than supporting the structural system during renovation process,
• The techniques to be applied during renovation processes are not specified in detail in restoration projects and this may have a neggative effect for additional applications that may be needed in the future,
• Material selection is crucial for renovations and may affect the occurrence of earthquake damage.
It is aimed that all these findings obtained through this research will be a guide to prevent the buildings from recurrence of earthquake damages in the possible earthquakes. Earthquake is an unchanging fact of many geographies and poses a great risk for the continuity of cultural heritage buildings. For this reason, the experiences gained with the recent earthquakes should be considered in order to safely transfer cultural heritage buildings to future generations. In order to prevent possible earthquake damage, the next steps should be determined and planned accurately and quickly.