Preparation of a guideline for earthquake risk management of historical structures in Turkey

Turkey is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in Europe. In the past, many destructive earthquakes occurred in Turkey, in which numerous historical structures were damaged seriously or even collapsed. In spite of the high seismic hazard in Turkey, unfortunately there exists no technical document regarding the seismic assessment and rehabilitation of historical structures. Considering this issue, efforts to prepare an advisory guideline document for architects and engineers regarding seismic risk assessment and strengthening of historical structures in Turkey were initiated. The guideline document under preparation is intended to follow the principles of the Venice Charter and the ICOMOS Guidelines. The guideline will be composed of different sections including the ways to collect data about the building, the selection of appropriate non-destructive or semi-destructive techniques, assessment of the existing building damage, the structural modeling strategies and types of inter...