Category: Blogs
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Message from our field team lead, Dr Yasemin Didem Aktas
The EEFIT team left Turkey on Saturday 18th March, following a 5-day mission. We witnessed so much destruction in cities and villages, but also the incredible resilience of the people, solidarity and cooperation, and cascading kindness! We are ever so grateful to all the wonderful people of the disaster-struck areas, who shared their stories, offered…
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Final day in the field
A final busy day in the field for all the team. Split into the different specialist areas once again, the Geotechnics team spent more time in the Golbasi district investigating the tilted structures and liquefaction. The Structures team visited: Photo 1: Performance of traditional stone masonry building stock in Samandağ villages was evaluated The Infrastructure…
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Day 4
One of the main observations in day 4 was the surface rupture of 20m depth with up to 80-100 m permanent displacement in the village of Tepehan. The team laser scanned the rupture at two locations and photographed this as much as possible. Photo 1: Fissures slicing across an olive grove in the village of…
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Tracking the displaced population in the affected provinces
Based on available information, about 200,000 buildings suffered heavy damage or collapsed. As at the 1st of March 2023, about 1.6 million people have been temporarily or permanently displaced from their homes. For the displaced victims, the journey to normalcy (i.e., resettlement in permanent housing) may take a long while. The EEFIT team has been…
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Day 3: İslâhiye
The team discovered a natural dam, created by an earthquake-induced landslide. We homed in on this location using satellite imagery remotely which identified a large valley-blocking landslide at Değirmencik, west of the town of İslâhiye (see previous blog on geotechnical assessments). The field team was therefore tasked with visiting the site. Photos 1 and 2…
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Day 2: Antakya
Today the infrastructure field team were in Antakya. The emergency response infrastructure is like the skeleton in our body, it gives the rigidity to push back against an external force. Hatay had its bones broken in pieces. Photos 1 and 2: Antakya University hospital Some of the major hospitals collapsed (Antakya University hospital – photo…
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Understanding the consequences and interdependence of infrastructure systems
The Infrastructure Subgroup has been investigating infrastructure systems, with emphasis on “system-level” consequences and interdependence. For investigation, the subgroup identified 9 system types, power, oil & gas, water & wastewater, healthcare, education, transportation, dams & reservoirs, communication and emergency response. So far, we observed that the hardest-hit cities in terms of casualties and collapsed buildings…
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Day 1: İskenderun
Today is the first day of deployment for the EEFIT field team. We are in Iskenderun where we observed evidence of fault rupture, ground failure due to liquefaction, and damage to heritage and modern buildings. Photo 1: Surface rupture of approx. 30cm observed in İskenderun Photo 2: Severe damage to the brick masonry Latin Catholic…
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Satellite-based analysis to support the EEFIT field mission
The Remote Sensing subgroup of the EEFIT Turkey/Syria mission has been collecting and interpreting satellite data made available in the first days after the event. The immediate aim of this effort is to extract information that can help us understand the earthquake impact on a large scale and to support the itinerary planning of the…
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Preliminary remote sensing insights into earthquake-induced geotechnical hazards
As part of the EEFIT Turkey/Syria mission, the Geotech subgroup undertook a GIS satellite-based mapping exercise of critical geotechnical hazards and associated damage ahead of the wider-group field visit. Typical geotechnical hazards that can occur during or after an earthquake include: The overall aim of this remote mapping exercise was to obtain a preliminary understanding…