Schnabel Visits Turkey as Part of Earthquake Response

Dr. Ozgun Numanoglu of Schnabel Engineering and Professor Tugce Baser of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign visited Turkey to conduct a site reconnaissance mission after a series of earthquakes hit Southern Turkey and Syria on February 6. Their work was part of the multi-organizational response to the series of earthquakes that occurred in the region.

Dr. Numanoglu and Dr. Baser—both from the region—travelled to Adana, Osmaniye, Hatay, Gaziantep, and Kahramanmaras (including the districts of Islahiye, Nurdagi, Pazarcik, and Iskenderun) together with Serhat Erinmez, a voluntary drone operator working for SiteEye software, which was used for remote monitoring of the earthquake-affected sites. The principal goals of the reconnaissance mission were to document and collect data pertaining to the geotechnical system failures and damages in geostructures and to develop a preliminary understanding of the mechanisms of earthquake-induced deformations and instabilities. The data collected included quantitative measurements of the earthquake-induced displacements and deformations, documentation of visual observations, and aerial drone footage using the SiteEye drone.

Their initial observations indicate strong evidence of liquefaction, liquefaction-induced settlements, ground subsidence, structural settlements induced by liquefaction and sand ejecta, large-scale natural slope instabilities, and interruption in the operation of several dams constructed around the region. Further efforts to quantify the extent of the damage are ongoing.