Message from Earthquake Engineering Association of Türkiye (EEAT)
than magnitude 6.
Kahramanmaraş earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6 that occurred approximately three years after the Mw=6.8 earthquake in Sivrice, Elazığ on January 24, 2020, has reminded everyone of the seismic hazardthat affects residential areas in our country. Even though it had been stated that the Sivrice earthquake was a harbinger of a larger earthquake that could occur in the region, and there are important lessons to be learned from this earthquake, the result was unfortunately very tragic. We, as the Earthquake Engineering Association of Türkiye (EEAT), advocate prioritizing policies that can mitigate the losses caused by these earthquakes to manageable levels . There are many duties that we need to fulfill as a country to avoid experiencing these types of painful experiences over and over in the future. We have a lot of work to do in the areas of legislation, institutionalization policies, social awareness, and technological applications for disaster management. We believe that continuing the duties that have already been initiated without any hesitation will make our country more resilient against disasters. Based on the fact that we will again experience major earthquakes in the future, it should not be forgotten that the primary duty and responsibility to be fulfilled with the help of science and technology lies in the measures taken before an earthquake, rather than short-term recovery efforts after each disaster. In this case, our goal should be to complete our pre-earthquake preparations as much as possible before that day comes and create resilient cities against possible earthquakes.
We would like to remind once again that the 7th International Conference on Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (7ICEES), which aims to bring together researchers and practitioners working on earthquake engineering topics to develop collaboration opportunities, will be held in conjunction with the 18th World Seismic Isolation, Energy Distribution and Active Vibration Control of Structures Conference (18WCSI) on November 6-10, 2023, at the Xanadu Resort Convention Center in Belek, Antalya. Given the field observations and studies conducted in the aftermath of the Kahramanmaras earthquakes in various fields such as earth sciences, geotechnics, superstructure, infrastructure, disaster management, and others, this conference has gained significant importance in better understanding the earthquakes centered around Kahramanmaras, one of the most destructive earthquake disasters in modern times, and discussing what kind of urgent strategies can be developed to mitigate damages and losses for future destructive earthquakes that may occur in different regions of Turkey. In this context, the theme of this year's conference will include special topics related to the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes. For this purpose, panels and special events will be organized at our conference. In addition, simulated ground motions, site characterization, energy-based earthquake engineering research, developments in insurance and reinsurance against multiple hazards, earthquake safety of industrial structures, nuclear facilities, storage tanks, lifelines, and coastal and offshore transmission pipelines, have been determined as other special session topics. Our evaluations for different special session topics are still ongoing.
Sincerely,
EEAT Board of Directors