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On 30 October 2020, an earthquake of Mw 6.9 hit the Aegean coasts of Turkey and Greece. The epicentre was some 14 km northeast of Avlakia on Samos Island, and 25 km southwest of Seferihisar, Turkey, triggering also a tsunami. The event has been followed by >4,000 aftershocks up to Mw 5.2 The Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team (EEFIT) has immediately gathered a team to conduct a hybrid reconnaissance study, bringing together remote and field investigation techniques. The mission took place between 16 November and 17 December, inclusive of three sets of field study carried out by the field crews for building damage assessment in the affected areas in Turkey and Greece under the coordination of the remote team. The mission also aimed to assess the viability of alternative data sources for an appraisal of the future viability of hybrid missions. This paper summarises the mission setup and findings, and discusses the benefits of and difficulties encountered during this hybrid reconnaissance activity.

On 30th October 2020, an earthquake of magnitude 6.9 hit the Aegean coasts of Turkey and Greece. The epicentre was some 14 km northeast of Avlakia settlement on Samos Island, and 25 km southwest of Turkish town Seferihisar, Izmir. The destruction the earthquake caused concentrated mainly on the mid-rise RC buildings in certain districts of Izmir city. Among the diverse building typologies affected by the event are the traditional/vernacular hybrid timber-masonry and masonry buildings that are common to Turkey and Greece. This paper summarises and discusses the damage levels and mechanisms observed in these types of buildings, based on an extensive field and remote reconnaissance survey in the affected areas in both countries conducted by the Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team (EEFIT) of the United Kingdom Institute of Structural Engineers (IStructE). The observed damage is then discussed in light of the level of maintenance and occupancy status. The collected data are also used to empirically construct fragility curves, to assess whether a small sample can be used to describe the overall performance of the buildings in the area and how these compare to the outcomes of previous studies on comparable building stocks.