Page 203 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 4

İrşade Aydoğdu Gürbüz - Banu Aslan

No. 7269 on Measures to be Taken and Aids to be Provided Due to Disasters
Affecting Public Life” was issued in 1959 involving all natural disasters (Law
No. 7269, 1959). Amendments have been made to the law in accordance with
the requirements over time, and the law No. 7269 is still in force.
Damage assessment studies were performed through simple forms which
contain information such as the number of floors, building type, building owner
apart from the technical data and are used in buildings either received or not
received engineering services since the date of the Law No. 7269 until the
beginning of the 1990s. In order to determine the criteria to be used in damage
assessment works and to develop damage assessment forms, the General
Directorate of Disaster Affairs (AIGM) and the Middle East Technical University
(METU) conducted a joint study in 1990. In the report prepared at the completion
of this study, damage assessment criteria for structures in rural areas and the
forms to be used in damage assessment works were determined. Within this
process, General Directorate of Natural Disasters under the Ministry of Public
Works and Settlement was replaced by Disaster and Emergency Management
Presidency founded under the Prime Ministry in 2019 with Law no. 5902 (Law no.
5902,2009). Damage assessment after Van earthquake in 2011 was performed
by AFAD. The responsibility of AFAD which is “to make preliminary assessment
urgently regarding extent of damage occurred on the infrastructure (water,
sewerage, treatment etc.) and building stock in the disaster zone and to ensure
coordination for conducting damage assessment operations” was transferred
to the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization with Türkiye National Disaster
Response Plan (TAMP) published on January 3, 2014, and General Directorate
of Construction Works is assigned with this duty in the Ministry. (TAMP Türkiye
National Disaster Response Plan, 2014). Earthquakes occurred throughout the
history, practices, training of personnel, technical competence and technology
level were reviewed by YİGM, damage assessment studies have no longer
been performed manually since 2016 in order to allow more rapid and healthy
damage assessment, to check the accuracy of the collected data, to conduct
the damage assessment in a way to avoid any legal objections and to protect
the rights and remedies of the citizens.

Damage Assessment Principles and Software
In this section, the damage assessment studies conducted before and after
the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes dated February 6, 2023 are discussed and
the importance of these studies is emphasized.
Damage assessment requires a two-stage technical inspection, that is
performed both from the outside and inside of the building. If there is a
significant collapse (partially or completely), significant permanent storey drift

192 The Journal of Environment, Urban and Climate