REPORT ON THE CENTRAL OFFICE ACTIVITIES FOR 1996 - 1997
GENERAL The major activities of the Central Office during 1996-1997 were correspondence with National Delegates, Task Group Coordinators, related international organisations, and publication of the Bulletins. The Secretary General participated to the XXVth General Assembly of European Seismological Commission, 8-13 September 1996, Reykjavik, Iceland; and to the First Japan-Turkey Workshop, 27-28 March 1997 to attend to Task Group meetings and to technical sessions. He made brief presentations about the EAEE and about Task Group activities in these meetings. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The Central Office organised the Fourth Executive Committee meeting in Istanbul, Turkey on August 31, 1996 with the financial support of the Turkish Earthquake Foundation. The minutes of the meeting was prepared and forwarded to all Executive Committee Members as well as to all National Delegates, to the representative of ESC and UNESCO. The minutes were also published in the EAEE Bulletin Vol.15, No.2.A postal balloting was conducted to approve the proposal of Prof.M.Sobaih, the President of the Egyptian Society for Earthquake Engineering to organise the 19th EAEE Regional Seminar in Cairo, Egypt during December 1-4, 1997. The Central Office received eight approval votes from the Executive Committee Members for the organisation of the Regional Seminar. The draft First Announcement was prepared by the Local Organising Committee and it is estimated that it will be distributed to all National delegates in the coming weeks.
The Central Office received very recently a proposal from German Delegate Prof.S.Savidis to organise the next regional seminar in Germany during 1998 or 1999.
In general, efforts have been made to establish close contact between the members of the Executive Committee and the Central Office by fax and e-mail. All the documents prepared by the Central Office were first sent by fax and later by mail to all the members of the Executive Committee including Honorary Members and representative of ESC.
WORKING GROUPS AND TASK GROUPS In accordance with the decisions reached in both EAEE and ESC Executive Committees, the third EAEE and ESC Joint Working Group among EAEE Task Group TG2 on "Strong Motion Records and Data Analysis" and ESC Working Group SF-WG3 on "Strong Motion" was established during the ESC General Assembly, in Reykjavik. Prof.N.Ambraseys was designated as the Coordinator representing both EAEE and ESC. This Joint Working Group is planning to have their first meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece during the IASPEI General Assembly, 18-28 August 1997.The Inco-Copernicus project proposal to establish a Network among eleven institutions (from Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Hungary, Italy, Greece, United Kingdom and France), prepared by the Coordinator of TG3 on "Seismic Risk and Earthquake Scenarios", Prof.Mauro Dolce has been accepted by EU. Most of the required documents necessary for the signing of the Contract have been completed. It is estimated that EU will give the final approval in early summer. There are plans to have the first meeting of the Network in September or October 1997.
The Second Meeting of the Joint Working Group, of EAEE TG6 on "Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering and Microzonation" and ESC WG4 on "Microzonation" was held on September 11, 1996 in Reykjavik, Iceland during the XXV General Assembly of ESC. The meeting was attended by seven members from different national organisations. The minutes of the meeting were prepared by the Coordinators and were distributed to all the WG members and it was published in the fourth issue of the Bulletin. The third meeting of EAEE and ESC Joint Working Group is scheduled for August 21, 1997 to be held in Thessaloniki, Greece during the IASPEI General Assembly.
Prof.D.Nenov informed the Central Office that he is planning to organise a meeting of WG4 on "Prefabricated Building Structures in Seismic Regions" to be held in the autumn of 1997.
Dr.Miha Tomazevic, the Convener, made a suggestion to end the activities of WG6 on "Masonry Structures in Seismic Areas" and join forces with the TG4 on "Low-Cost Housing with Local Materials in Seismic Areas".
EUROPEAN SEISMOLOGICAL COMMISSION The Secretary General participated to the XXV th General Assembly of European Seismological Commission held in Reykjavik, Iceland, during September 8-13,1996 and attended the Executive Committee Meeting of ESC. In the General Meeting of ESC Titular Members, it was voted to have the next General Assembly of ESC in Tel Aviv, Israel during 23-28 August 1998. JOURNAL OF EUROPEAN EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING All the minutes of the Executive Committee Meetings and information concerning Task Group activities were sent to the Editor of EEE. A major portion of this information was published in the issues that came out in 1996 and 1997. BULLETIN The third and fourth issues of the Bulletin were prepared and published at the end of August 1996 and February 1997. Each issue was printed as 1500 copies and was distributed to all Delegates, TG and WG Coordinators and Conveners and to major earthquake related organisations in Europe and abroad. As suggested by the Executive Committee, the last fourth issue of the EAEE Bulletin was also forwarded to all the Delegates of the International Society for Earthquake Engineering and to all the Titular Members of the ESC. Internet - WEB The Internet-EAEE Home Page that were created previously was updated continuously to contain all the published Bulletins as well as other related information forwarded to the Central Office. The new address of the EAEE Home Pages is:http://www.ins.itu.edu.tr/eaee/eaee.htm
The opening page of the EAEE Home Page was printed on the back cover of the EAEE Bulletin to inform the members of National Organisations and all other interested people. Others Information concerning EAEE and its activities were sent to following organisations: CBD Research Limited for Directory of Pan-European Organisations, Union of International Organisation for Who's Who in International Organisations and for Yearbook of International Organisations, UNESCO-IDNDR Secretariat, UNESCO-Habitat SecretariatAtilla M.Ansal, Secretary General
June 1997