SUMMARY

In Turkey and neighboring countries, even as traditional forms of construction for dwellings are being replaced with new buildings that incorporate steel and reinforced concrete, the chances of survival of their occupants during strong earthquakes has not improved. The astounding human losses in the eastern Iranian city of Bam bear testimony to this truth. The timber frame with masonry infill construction found in many of the countries around the Mediterranean basin, evolved over hundreds of years in response to both of social and economic needs. One of those needs was protection against collapse in the earthquakes that regularly strike the region. Over the last half-century, this traditional way of building has been replaced with reinforced concrete. As recent earthquakes have tragically demonstrated, the initial promise of this new material has not been realized because of failures in the entire building delivery process. Attempts at improving the quality of concrete buildings have been frustrated by an inability to affect what is largely an unsophisticated and unregulated industry. An examination of traditional Turkish hımış construction may bear some important lessons not just for cultural heritage conservation, but also for the introduction of creative approaches to hazard mitigation in contemporary buildings as well