Hospital Network Resilience in Hatay Following the 2023 Cascading Earthquakes in Türkiye: Year-Long Investigation

On February 6, 2023, Türkiye experienced two catastrophic earthquakes with significant magnitudes Mw 7.8 and 7.5, followed by a subsequent third event with a measured Mw 6.3 two weeks later. These events caused widespread devastation, predominantly in the province of Hatay, with a significant portion of its buildings and healthcare system being severely damaged. This paper presents the findings of a technical investigation into physical structural and nonstructural damages and the functional recovery of the hospital network in Hatay province. The study was conducted on 30 main hospitals through field visits immediately after the events and six months later, bolstered by extensive reviews of official sources for one year post-event. Overall, functionality losses reduced the total number of operational beds up to around 31% of pre-earthquake bed numbers after the first and second earthquakes and 14% after the third earthquake. One year after the events, with the support of seven newly built or converted hospitals and a continuing recovery process, the bed capacity for the network reached around 83%.