Innovation - Spring 2024

W hen Allison Chen visited devastated regions of Türkiye on a reconnaissance mission months after powerful earthquakes, she was astounded by the utter emptiness of once-bustling cities. “Almost everything’s abandoned,” says Chen, P.Eng., P.E. “It’s just wild to see so many abandoned buildings and empty streets. Some of the places are real ghost towns without even tent or container cities nearby. There are so few people. It’s really like flattening the whole of downtown Vancouver and starting again, which is really emotional to see.” Chen, a practice advisor at Engineers and Geoscientists BC, visited southern Türkiye in June 2023 on a trip organized by UBC professors, Dr. Tony Yang, P.Eng., and Dr. Carlos Ventura, P.Eng. The diverse team—made up of seismic and structural experts from Canada, Türkiye, Taiwan, Guatemala, Serbia, Iran, Nepal, Syria, and Italy—saw first-hand how major earthquakes impacted the region and how officials handled the response and recovery efforts. On Feb. 6, 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, with an epicentre located about 850 kilometers southeast of Istanbul, struck at 4:17 a.m. while many locals slept. A second magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit about nine hours later about 100 kilometres north of the first, as people searched for their loved ones. Two weeks later, on Feb. 20, a third magnitude 6.4 quake struck southwest. During the two months following the first main shock, there were more than 35,000 aftershocks along the fault lines. About 500 of them were magnitudes four and five, which is strong enough to be felt. “I can’t imagine being displaced from your home—maybe having lost family members, friends, or all of your possessions—and feeling another shock and not knowing what was going to happen, how big it was going to be, what kind of effects it would have,” says Chen. “Just beyond terrifying. That fear existed four months later when we were there.”

LESSONS FROM TÜRKIYE

Heavily damaged and abandoned buildings, collapsed buildings and rubble are seen down a narrow road towards Hatay’s city centre. Photo: Allison Chen

Innovation Spring 2024

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