The 2023 Turkey-Syria Earthquake has caused one of the most devastating human losses and damage to structural resources in the last decade. To avoid such devastating damage, screening fragile buildings is important. Thus, this research tried to check the applicability of FEMA rapid visual screening for building safety against earthquakes. From Google Street-View images before the earthquake, 99 damaged buildings in Hatay, Antakya, Turkey were evaluated with construction irregularities. Then, a comparison of the level-damaged building group sampling: FEMA total average score, the number of stories, and the aspect ratio of buildings were performed. The results indicate that the differences in the FEMA total average score of the buildings categorized by the observed level of damage are statistically significant. Therefore, the evaluation of building irregularity in FEMA rapid visual screening may apply to the buildings in Turkey, although the FEMA method is designated to apply to the buildings in the United States of America (USA).
Enrique et al. (Mon,) studied this question.