Post-earthquake fires: risk assessment and precautions

Abstract

Earthquakes have great damage potential and importance in risk management and structural engineering, causing fires in buildings such as residences and commercial spaces. Post-earthquake fires (PEF) are secondary disasters that can cause material and moral destruction and loss of life. Similar to natural disasters, they show the time of occurrence and possible scenarios in places. This study aims to analyse and examine what precautions can be taken to prevent or minimize PEF through risk assessment. In this study, a literature review was conducted with the tracking method, focusing on examples from the world where the fires that occur as a secondary effect of the earthquake can cause devastating damages and significant disasters, and inferences are made by classifying the data obtained. Many factors, such as gas leaks due to earthquakes, cracks in pipelines, and short circuits in electrical installations, can cause fires. In addition, flammable liquid or combustible gas emissions and fire protection disturbances create significant fire hazards after earthquakes. In this paper, in which the causes and consequences of fires are analysed, risks, the evaluation process depending on the risks, the precautions that can be taken according to the situations that the risks will cause, and the models developed are emphasized. The research is a reference study with the expectation that there will be an increase in the number of studies examining experimental and physical PEF models.