Preliminary seismic evaluation of public hospitals in Istanbul

Abstract

Hospitals deserve special attention with respect to seismic safety because of theirspecial occupancy characteristics and their importance to immediate and long-term earthquakedisaster relief and recovery efforts.Destruction caused by earthquakes results from a combination of severe earthquakeground motions and vulnerable man-made structures. Existing buildings vary from newbuildings designed according to modern seismic design provisions to very old buildings erectedbefore the advent of earthquake regulations. Moreover modifications for seismic requirementshave been so rapid that many buildings that are only 20 years old or so, despite being designedaccording to codes which included seismic provisions, are now considered as potentiallyhazardous.One of the most effective ways of minimizing potential earthquake-related losses is toconduct reliable assessments of the vulnerability of existing structures and to develop andimplement effective ways to upgrade structures identified as hazardous. Such situation is verysevere espacialy for structures like hospitals which are considered to be vital structures.In a city like Istanbul the seismic evaluation of existing public hospitals was found to bea demand. The objective of this study is to determine the hospitals which are to be consideredas vulnerable by carrying out a preliminary screening procedure.In addition to the preliminary screening, a detailed evaluation is presented on one of thehospitals to determine the structural deficiencies. Such detailed evaluation would allow us todetect the problems more in detail in order to find solutions for the vulnerable hospitals.