Rapid report of seismic damage to hospitals in the 2023 Turkey earthquake sequences

: The seismic performance of medical systems is crucial for the seismic resilience of communities. The report summarizes the observed damage to twelve hospital buildings in the area affected by the M W 7.8 and M W 7.5 earthquakes on 6 February 2023 in Turkey. They include five base-isolated buildings and seven fixed-base buildings in southcentral Turkey's seven most heavily affected provinces. By relating the post-quake occupancy statuses of the hospitals with the estimated seismic demands during the earthquake doublet, the report offers the following observations: (1) the base-isolated hospital buildings on friction pendulum bearings generally exhibited superior performance of achieving the goal of immediate occupancy and provided better protection for nonstructural elements than fixed-base counterparts did; (2) the fixed-base hospital buildings of reinforced concrete structures constructed after 2001 successfully achieved the goal of collapse prevention even under very high seismic demands; (3) some fixed-base hospitals also remained operational even if they were very close to the fault rupture and were subjected to higher-than-design-level earthquake ground motions.