• the occurrence of the sequence of strong intermediate depth Vrancea earthquakes of 1977.03.04 (M=7.2), 1986.08.30 (M=7.0), 1990.05.30 (M=6.7), 1990.05.31 (M=6.1), and of the strong crustal Banat earthquakes of 1991.07.12 (M=5.7), 1991.07.18 (M=5.6), 1991.12.02 (M=5.5), which increased the awareness of the high seismicity affecting the Romanian territory;
• the political change of December 1989, after which the Government became considerably more open to discussion and prompt in decisions and the problems of earthquake risk and protection became a matter of free public discussion and a quite usual theme for mass media debates.

Under these conditions the Government reacted very promptly to the earthquakes of 1990 and 1991, with some contingency measures. One of the important results of this reaction is represented by the new earthquake resistant design code P.100-92, by now published in English (partially) also in the IAEE volume of national regulations.

The reaction to the IDNDR initiative of 1989/1990 took some time, but by now it is possible to put to evidence a strong impact of it. The Government Ordinance no. 47/1994, devoted to disaster prevention in general, decided that central commissions concerning the prevention of nine categories of disasters (natural or man made) are to be organised by corresponding ministries. Among that, the Ministry of Public Works and Territorial Planning (MLPAT) was asked to organise a central commission for prevention of earthquake and landslide disasters. The Government ordinance no. 20/1994, devoted to the earthquake protection of the existing building stock, defined responsibilities and resources to be used for the reduction of risk affecting this stock. It was decided in this frame to organise also a Superior Technical Council as an advisory body of MLPAT, in relation to the tasks of the latter ordinance (this body became functional in early 1995 and contributed to the development of policies, as well as to the selection of solutions of intervention related to some cases of higher importance).

Another direction of development of major importance to be noted is the trend of harmonisation of national design standards and codes with the system of Eurocodes. A wide consensus on the principle of harmonisation was met, but an effective program started to be developed quite recently. Among the developments to be mentioned in this connection, one can note: a draft corresponding for general principles of structural design to EC-1 part 1 (basis of design), which is by now circulated, and drafts corresponding for earthquake resistant design to EC-8 part 2 (bridges), part 5 (earth retaining structures, earth structures), besides them also a draft for tunnels. It is planned to start in 1998 also the drafting for the correspondent of EC-8 part 1.

Even if the following drafts of technical documents are not directly related to the Eurocodes, it may be mentioned that a guide for the earthquake protection of facilities including high risk sources was endorsed recently by MLPAT and that drafts for the specification of seismic site conditions and for the specification of design accelerations are being currently circulated. Work on a draft code for the earthquake protection of urban systems is under way since a longer time and it is expected that a new draft will be circulated in 1998.

In a different connection, guides for the prevention of earthquake disasters, specifically related to several categories of buildings (aimed at protecting not only the buildings, but also their occupants and their functions): museums and exhibitions, research institutions, buildings of the health system, as well as churches, were developed.