About this Research Topic
In February 2023, devastating earthquakes hit southern Türkiye and northern Syria, causing immense loss of life and significant infrastructural damage. This tragic event underscored the critical need for advanced preparedness and rapid response mechanisms to mitigate the severe impacts of such natural disasters. Multidisciplinary research spanning earth sciences, engineering, and public health plays a pivotal role in developing effective strategies to cope with and prepare for future seismic events. Although substantial research already exists, the 2023 earthquakes revealed gaps in our current understanding and approaches, highlighting areas where further interdisciplinary exploration is necessary.
This Research Topic seeks to foster a holistic understanding and proactive approach to earthquake resilience by integrating diverse scholarly perspectives. The goal is to synthesize research from earth sciences, engineering, and public health to develop more robust disaster response strategies, improve infrastructure resilience, and enhance community health outcomes in the face of seismic challenges.
Reflective of its interdisciplinary nature, this Research Topic spans three specialized Frontiers journals, each focusing on different aspects of disaster science:
Frontiers in Earth Science: Research here will delve into the geophysical and geological specifics of the East Anatolian and Dead Sea fault systems, with studies on seismic hazards, fault mechanics, and geodynamic models. Contributions can include seismological and field-based structural studies, remote sensing and geodetic studies (such as from InSAR and GPS), contribution from numerical and analogue models, observational and modelling-based studies of seismic wave propagation and amplification, and regional geodynamic and geophysical studies that help place the February 2023 seismic sequence in the context of broader plate motions.
Frontiers in Built Environment: This area will concentrate on engineering aspects, such as the seismic design and retrofitting of buildings and infrastructure, evaluating structural integrity and resilience under earthquake conditions. Relevant topics include site investigation, geo-hazard evaluation and assessment (e.g. liquefaction, lateral spreading, landslide, land subsidence); seismic behaviour of substructures, earth structures and the performance of buildings, bridges, and other infrastructure during the earthquake; recorded and generated ground motions of the February 2023 earthquake sequence and the seismic response of structures; and retrofitting of existing buildings to improve their seismic performance.
Frontiers in Public Health: Contributions will focus on immediate and long-term health impacts of earthquakes, strategies for emergency medical response, and mental health support systems in disaster-stricken communities. We welcome observational studies, randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, rapid reviews, and commentaries, and studies that investigate the effectiveness of disaster preparedness and response strategies.
This Research Topic seeks to foster a holistic understanding and proactive approach to earthquake resilience by integrating diverse scholarly perspectives. The goal is to synthesize research from earth sciences, engineering, and public health to develop more robust disaster response strategies, improve infrastructure resilience, and enhance community health outcomes in the face of seismic challenges.
Reflective of its interdisciplinary nature, this Research Topic spans three specialized Frontiers journals, each focusing on different aspects of disaster science:
Frontiers in Earth Science: Research here will delve into the geophysical and geological specifics of the East Anatolian and Dead Sea fault systems, with studies on seismic hazards, fault mechanics, and geodynamic models. Contributions can include seismological and field-based structural studies, remote sensing and geodetic studies (such as from InSAR and GPS), contribution from numerical and analogue models, observational and modelling-based studies of seismic wave propagation and amplification, and regional geodynamic and geophysical studies that help place the February 2023 seismic sequence in the context of broader plate motions.
Frontiers in Built Environment: This area will concentrate on engineering aspects, such as the seismic design and retrofitting of buildings and infrastructure, evaluating structural integrity and resilience under earthquake conditions. Relevant topics include site investigation, geo-hazard evaluation and assessment (e.g. liquefaction, lateral spreading, landslide, land subsidence); seismic behaviour of substructures, earth structures and the performance of buildings, bridges, and other infrastructure during the earthquake; recorded and generated ground motions of the February 2023 earthquake sequence and the seismic response of structures; and retrofitting of existing buildings to improve their seismic performance.
Frontiers in Public Health: Contributions will focus on immediate and long-term health impacts of earthquakes, strategies for emergency medical response, and mental health support systems in disaster-stricken communities. We welcome observational studies, randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, rapid reviews, and commentaries, and studies that investigate the effectiveness of disaster preparedness and response strategies.
Keywords: Turkey, Syria, Earthquake, natural disaster, public response, earth science, public health, built environment
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
