Visual evaluation method of earthquake vulnerability risk of the constructed buildings

Almost the entire homeland of our country is located on an active seismic zone. Unfortunately, this situation had always been overlooked till lately and every time a major earthquake occurred our country was confronted with severe casualties and economic losses. Therefore, proper policies and strategies must be constituted to prevent possible earthquakes to turn into disasters. Measures should be taken to reduce the seismic risks on the build environment as an important step in this aspect. Reducing the seismic risks can be provided by constructing the new buildings in compliance with the seismic construction principles together with reinforcing the existing ones which are highly vulnerable under seismic risks. It is a fact that most of the existing buildings in our country do not posses the standards defined by the Turkish Standards Institute and safety levels of 1997 Turkish Building Codes. Furthermore, the possibility of facing a major earthquake any moment indicates us that we don't have the luxury of spending time. Therefore, rapid and economical evaluation methods should be developed to analyze the earthquake vulnerability of existing buildings. This study under the heading of "Visual Evaluation Method of Earthquake Vulnerability Risk of The Constructed Buildings" is aiming to develop a rapid visual evaluation method to reduce seismic risks of the existing buildings. The study consists of eight chapters. The first chapter begins with defining the problem and continues with stating its importance, aim and method of the study. Basic information about earthquakes (magnitude, intensity, seismic waves, etc.) and brief explanations about the effects of earthquakes on buildings are the subjects of the second chapter. Third chapter is about the resistance mechanisms of buildings against earthquakes and the methods of reinforcing these resistances. Fourth chapter deals with the different approaches developed in our country and abroad for defining the vulnerability of buildings against earthquakes. The analysis of these researches were used to develop the proposed evaluation method. The seismicity of our country and the damages caused by the previous earthquakes are studied in- detail together with pictures and graphic presentations in the fifth chapter. Sixth chapter deals with the proposed evaluation method, its aim, its content, its characteristics and its importance in detail. In the seventh chapter the proposed evaluation method is tested via a case study. Eight chapter is about the conclusions of the thesis. Keywords: Earthquake, vulnerability, evaluation method, earthquake risks, earthquake damages. xiv