Failure of structural (RC, masonry, bridge) to Van earthquake

Abstract An earthquake occurred on 23 October 2011, at approximately 20 km north of city of Van downtown, west of Ercek Lake, in the vicinity of Kasimoglu Village with a moment magnitude of Mw = 7.2. While aftershock activities of this earthquake continues intensively, another earthquake with local magnitude Mw = 5.6 occurred, on 9 November 2011, at approximately 10 km south of Van downtown, in county of Edremit region. By this second earthquake, property damage and life loss count significantly increased. In this paper, failures of damaged structures at Van earthquake are examined. Also negative effects of structural irregularities (short column, soft story, torsion), structural material (concrete, steel), soil properties (liquefaction, sliding), structural systems (reinforced concrete, prefabricated, masonry and adobe) and structure type (bridge, culvert, minaret) are studied.