Türkiye experienced great destruction during the Kahramanmaraş earthquake couple which occurred as Pazarcık (M_w = 7.7) and Elbistan (M_w = 7.6) on 6 February 2023. The weak structural characteristics and the magnitude of the earthquakes caused more than 50,000 casualties. Significant damage occurred in both urban and rural building stock in 11 different provinces that were primarily affected by the earthquakes. The dominant building stock is masonry structures in the rural areas of the earthquake region. Structural damages at various levels have occurred in adobe masonry structures built using local labours and resources without any engineering service. The main purpose of this study is to examine the failure and collapse mechanisms of adobe structures after Kahramanmaraş earthquakes in detail. First of all, information about both earthquakes was given. The earthquake intensity for all provinces was obtained by using the peak ground acceleration-intensity relation suggested for Türkiye, taking into account the measured PGAs in earthquakes. The observed structural damages were evaluated in terms of earthquake and civil engineering in adobe structures. Damage classification was conducted using European Macro-Seismic Scale (EMS-98) for a total of 100 adobe buildings. Of these structures, 25% were destroyed, 49% were heavily damaged, 15% were damaged moderately, and 11% were damaged slightly. In addition, the rules regarding adobe structures were compared considering the last two earthquake design codes used in Türkiye. In the study, suggestions were also presented to prevent structural damage in the adobe buildings in the earthquake region. Low strength of adobe material, usage of heavy earthen roofs, failure to comply with earthquake-resistant building design principles, and insufficient support of load-bearing walls are the main causes of damage.

On 6 February 2023, two independent earthquake pairs on the East Anatolian Fault Zone, with epicenters in Pazarcık (Mw = 7.7) and Elbistan (Mw = 7.6) districts of Kahramanmaraş province, caused great destruction. Adıyaman and Gölbaşı districts of this city are among the settlements most affected by the earthquake. Especially in the district where geotechnical damages are most observed, the destructive effects of earthquakes have been clearly observed in buildings with different structural systems. In this study, information is given about the earthquakes that hit the region and the fault zone where the earthquakes occur. Geotechnical and structural damages occurring in the villages and center of the district were evaluated within the scope of earthquakes and structural engineering. It can be stated that damages observed in the district center are generally caused by soil–structure interaction problems. The fact that masonry structures, which are widely used in rural areas, do not benefit from any engineering services has an impact on the level of damage. The main reason for the damages occurring in the reinforced concrete structures in the district is the reinforced concrete system that is not designed properly or not built in accordance with the design. This case study demonstrated the importance of earthquake–soil–structure interactions in line with earthquake-resistant building design principles.

In parallel with the increase in vehicle sales worldwide, waste tires are becoming an increasing problem. The storage and disposal of these waste tires are critical environmental problems. Re-using these wastes in different areas instead of being disposed of is vital in preventing environmental pollution and creating new low-cost products. From this motivation, this paper investigates the properties of traditional reinforced-concrete beam with recycled steel wires (RSWT) obtained from the waste tires. RSWT were added to reinforced-concrete beam between 1% and 3% by weight with an increment of 1%. In total, 9 cubes, 12 cylinders and 12 reinforced-concrete beams were cast and tested to obtain the compressive, splitting tensile and flexural strengths, respectively. RSWT added to the concrete by 1%, 2% and 3% increased the compressive strength by 17.2%, 30.8% and 46.4%, respectively, compared to the reference concrete. In split tensile strength, 14.4%, 25.1% and 36.7% increases were observed, respectively. This showed that there was an effective increase in the compressive and tensile strength of concrete with the increase of fiber content. Although the effect of fiber content in samples with high stirrup spacing (27 cm) provides significant benefit in improving the beam behavior, the effect of fibers was more limited as the stirrup spacing decreased (20 cm and 16 cm). An approximation of over 91% was obtained between the analytical calculations and the experimental results. This shows that the analytical calculations given in the standards can be used for new experimental studies.