6 February 2023 evaluation of asbestos knowledge and awareness of the people in the earthquake zone after the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes

Introduction and Purpose: Asbestos or also known as asbestos; It is a carcinogenic mineral with a fibrous structure that is very resistant to heat, abrasion and chemicals. Today, the fibrous mineral that most commonly causes disease in the respiratory system in the world is asbestos. As a result of occupational and/or environmental exposure, accumulation of asbestos fibers in lung tissue can lead to various diseases. Although the severity and prevalence of these diseases may vary over time, the effects of asbestos exposure can occur in the long term. Current scientific studies show that asbestos fibers can be easily released during the repair, renovation, demolition or dismantling of asbestos-containing materials. The aim of this study is to increase the knowledge level and awareness of the participants about asbestos exposure from debris and demolition works in the affected provinces after the February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes. Material and method: Approval for our research was received from the İnönü University Faculty of Medicine Health Sciences Non-Interventional Clinical Research Ethics Committee on 31.10.2023 with the decision numbered 2023/5092. 384 individuals over the age of 18 who agreed to participate in the study living in the affected provinces after the February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes were accepted as the population of the study. A survey form containing knowledge and awareness questions about asbestos, created by the researcher by scanning the literature, was applied to the participants via Google survey using the snowball sampling method. A value of p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. IBM SPSS 26.0 program was used in the analyses. Results: The average age of the participants was 32.25±10.9 years and 192 (50%) were women while the other 192 (50%) were men. While 70 participants (18.2%) were partially exposed to debris dust generated during post-earthquake debris work, 209 participants (54.4%) stated that they were fully exposed. It was determined that 11.5% of the respondents did not know that asbestos is a harmful dust. It was determined that 1.6% of the participants did not know that asbestos causes respiratory diseases, and 2.1% of the participants did not think that precautions should be taken against asbestos exposure during building demolition. It was determined that 22.7% of the participants thought that asbestos did not cause fatal diseases, and 1.8% of the participants thought that it did not cause fatal diseases such as lung or pleural cancer (mesothelioma). Conclusion: Even though the awareness and consciousness level of the participants in our study was determined to be high, we believe that it would be beneficial to conduct larger-scale scientific studies in terms of protection from environmental asbestos exposure, create public service announcements, and organize intensive trainings to reach a larger population.