Earthquake safety in Erzincan City center: strategic analysis of building stock, transportation network, gathering, and temporary shelter areas

The twin earthquakes in Kahramanmara & scedil; in 2023 revealed the necessity of disaster coordination and pre-disaster situation analysis. To cope with such disasters and prevent possible losses, a comprehensive preparation process is required, such as evaluating a city's building stock in terms of earthquake risks and assessing the adequacy of the transportation network, emergency gathering points, and temporary shelter areas. This study selected Erzincan province, which has been destroyed by many major earthquakes, as the study area. It aimed to create risk maps by determining earthquake-risk buildings using rapid visual screening methods based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), conducting building performance evaluations, and choosing safe transportation routes in case of a possible disaster. A total of 3,199 reinforced concrete and masonry buildings with two or more stories in the city center of Erzincan, constructed before 2000, were identified. In a possible earthquake, transportation infrastructure was analyzed, and maps of traffic density, emergency gathering, and temporary shelter areas were created. The analyses showed that the capacity of emergency gathering, and temporary shelter areas needed to be increased. In the scenarios of increased traffic density, it has been determined that the existing roads in all ten neighborhoods are unsuitable for disaster-emergency situations.