REPORT ON THE CENTRAL OFFICE ACTIVITIES for
1994-1998
GENERAL
The EAEE Central Office was established in the Civil Engineering Faculty at Istanbul Technical University in September 1994, in accordance with the decision of the EAEE General Assembly. The main activities of the Central Office during this four-year term were:
the reorganisation of the Working Groups as Task Groups,
the Rules for EAEE Task Groups,
the modifications of the EAEE Statutes,
the Guidelines for the EAEE Regional Seminars on Earthquake Engineering,
The Secretary General participated to:
to represent EAEE and to attend Task Group meetings and technical sessions. He made brief presentations about the EAEE and about Task Group activities in some of these meetings.
Four reports summarising the Central Office activities for the periods of:
September 1994 - August 1995
August 1995 - August 1996
August 1996 - June 1997
June- December 1997
were prepared and forwarded to all Executive Committee Members, National Delegates, Honorary Members and to the representatives of ESC and UNESCO. The reports were also published in the EAEE Bulletins and were inserted in the Internet web pages of EAEE.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Central Office organised or helped in the organisation of:
The minutes of these meetings were prepared and forwarded to all the Executive Committee Members, National Delegates, Honorary Members, the representatives of ESC and UNESCO. The minutes were published in the Bulletins and inserted in the Internet web pages of EAEE.
MEMBER ORGANISATIONS OF EAEE
The Proposal for Reorganisation of Working Groups as Task Groups was prepared and forwarded to all National Delegates in May, 1995 to have their suggestions.
The Proposal for the Changes in the EAEE Statutes and the Rules for EAEE Task Groups were forwarded to all National Delegates in February 1996.
According to the decision of the Executive Committee, postal balloting was conducted for the approval of the proposed changes in the EAEE Statutes and the Rules for the Task Groups. The Central Office received 26 affirmative votes out of 28 National Delegates. This number was sufficient for the approval of the changes in the EAEE Statutes according to Art.11 that requires affirmative votes from 2/3 of the total number of Delegates for the approval of the changes.
The First Announcement for the 19th EAEE Regional Seminar to be held in Cairo, Egypt during December 1-4, 1997, prepared by Prof.M.Sobaih, the President of the Egyptian Society for Earthquake Engineering, were distributed to all National Delegates by fax and e-mail.
The Society for Earthquake Engineering and Civil Engineering Dynamics of UK, have informed the Central Office in December 1994 about the election of Prof.Amr S. Elnashia from Imperial College, as the national delegate of UK in EAEE.
The Croatian Society for Earthquake Engineering have informed the Central Office in March 1995 that Mrs.Mihaela Zamola was elected as the new National Delegate of Croatia in EAEE.
The Spanish Society for Earthquake Engineering have informed the Central Office in June, 1996 that Dr.Rafael Blázquez was elected as the new President and the new National Delegate and Mr.Francisco Navarro as the new Deputy Delegate of Spain in EAEE.
The German Society for Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics have informed the Central Office in March, 1996 that Prof.Dr.-Ing.Stavros A.Savidis was elected as the new President and the new National Delegate of Germany in EAEE.
The Swiss Society for Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics have informed the Central Office in July, 1997 that
Dr.Martin Koller was elected as the new President and National Delegate of Switzerland in EAEE.The Danish Committee for Earthquake Engineering have informed the Central Office in June, 1998 that Jakob Laigaard Jensen was elected as the new National Delegate of Denmark in EAEE.
The Executive Committee tentatively approved the application of the Polish Initiative Committee to become a member society of EAEE in its Second Meeting in Istanbul. The Initiative Committee prepared the Statutes and the Polish National Committee for Earthquake and Paraseismic Engineering was established in August 1998. Thus Polish National Committee for Earthquake and Paraseismic Engineering will become the twenty seventh member of the EAEE in the last meeting of the Executive Committee to be held on Monday, September 4, 1998.
WORKING GROUPS AND TASK GROUPS
A Draft Proposal for the Reorganisation of EAEE Working Groups as Task Groups was prepared by exchanging ideas with Prof.Dr. Rainer Flesch, the President of EAEE. This Draft Proposal was forwarded to all members of the Executive Committee, Honorary Members, the representative of ESC, and the observer of UNESCO for review and suggestions.
The Proposal for the Reorganisation of the Working Groups as Task Groups was forwarded in June and July 1995 to all the Conveners of the existing WG’s and to the Coordinators of the proposed TG’s for their suggestions.
The Central Office prepared a draft proposal for Rules of Task Groups of EAEE and some suggestions to revise the Statutes of EAEE to incorporate Task Groups that was discussed and approved in the Executive Committee Meeting held in Lyon, France on September 5, 1995.
The Central Office has organised the first meeting of newly proposed Task Group 1 on “Evaluation of EC8 and Harmonisation of Seismic Codes” during the SECED Conference on European Seismic Design Practice to be held in Chester, UK during October 26-27, 1995.
The General Secretary participated to the meeting and prepared a summary of the meeting that was published in the second issue of the Bulletin. A detailed transcript of the discussions during the meeting was also prepared and was distributed to all participants for their comments. This corrected detailed transcript was distributed to all Executive Committee members for evaluating the future and reorganisation of TG1.
Starting from the end of May, 1995, the Central Office were involved with organising the first meeting of EAEE and ESC Joint Task Group 3 on “Seismic Risk and Earthquake Scenarios”. The meeting was supported by the funds obtained by the President, Prof.Dr.Rainer Flesch. The meeting took place on June 26 and 27, 1995 in Vienna with the participation of 8 (3 from ESC and 5 from EAEE) members out of the nominated 14 members (6 from ESC and 8 from EAEE). The Secretary General also participated to the meeting.
The Coordinator of TG3 on “Seismic Risk and Earthquake Scenarios” Prof.Maruo Dolce have prepared a project proposal to establish a network within the INCO-COPERNICUS program of EU. Eleven institutions (Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Hungary, Italy, Greece, United Kingdom and France) participated to the proposal. The Central Office supported the preparation of the proposal and offered its help when needed. The proposal was accepted by EU in July 1997. The first meeting of the project was held on January 23-24, 1998 in Rome, Italy and the second meeting was held on 26 June 1998 in Padova, Italy.
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.
EAEE Central Office supported the activities of the Joint Task Group of EAEE TG6 on “Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering and Microzonation” and ESC WG4 on “Microzonation" that held their:
The minutes of these meetings were prepared by the Coordinators and were distributed to all the members. They were published in the Bulletins and inserted in EAEE Internet web pages. The fourth meeting of EAEE and ESC Joint Task Group will be held in Paris during the 11th ECEE.
Central Office supported the organisation of the European Workshop on the "Seismic Behaviour of Asymmetric and Setback Structures" held in Anacapri, Napoli, Italy during 4-5 October 1996, organised by the Task Group TG8 on "Seismic Behaviour of Irregular and Complex Structures". The second workshop is planned to be held in Istanbul, Turkey during 8-10.10.1999.
The proposal of Dr.Miha Tomazevic, the Convener, WG6 on “Masonry Structures in Seismic Areas” to end the activities of WG6 and join forces with the TG4 on “Low-Cost Housing with Local Materials in Seismic Areas” was discussed and approved by the Executive Committee.
EUROPEAN SEISMOLOGICAL COMMISSION
The Secretary General participated to the XIVth General Assembly of European Seismological Commission held in Athens, during September 19-24,1994 and delivered a speech in the Opening Session. He explained briefly the EAEE activities and views of the new Executive Committee for establishing cooperation among ESC and EAEE. The Secretary General also attended as the representative of EAEE to the two meetings of the Executive Board of ESC held in Athens during the General Assembly. The Executive Board of the ESC supported the views of EAEE Executive Committee for establishing joint working groups. A preliminary decision was taken to initiate two joint working groups one on Seismic Risk and Hazard and the second one on Microzonation. Along with the decision reached in both Executive Committees of EAEE and ESC, the second Joint Task Group on "Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering and Microzonation" was established.
The Secretary General participated to the XXVth General Assembly of European Seismological Commission held in Reykjavik, Iceland, during September 8-13,1996 and attended the Executive Board Meeting of ESC.
The Secretary General participated to the Business Meeting of ESC on August 20, 1997 and the meeting of the Subcommission on Engineering Seismology on August 22, 1997 held in Thessaloniki, Greece, during IASPEI General Assembly. In both meetings the preparations for the General Assembly of ESC held in Tel Aviv, Israel during 23-28 August 1998 were discussed. It was decided that EAEE & ESC Joint Working Group on "Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering and Microzonation" should organise a symposium on "Design Ground Motion" with A.Marcellini and A.Ansal as the Conveners.
The Secretary General participated to the XXVIth General Assembly of European Seismological Commission (ESC) held in Tel Aviv, Israel during 23-28 August 1998, took part in the Task Group Meetings and attended the Executive Board Meetings of ESC and General Meeting of ESC Titular Members.
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 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998.
BULLETIN
In accordance with the decisions of the Executive Committee, the format and the contents of the EAEE Bulletin were modified and the first issue of the Bulletin for 1995 (Vol.14 No.1) was prepared and printed at the end of August 1995 and was distributed to all National delegates.
Before the publication of the second issue for 1995, a survey was conducted through all National Delegates to determine the number of copies that would be needed to distribute the Bulletin to all related people and organisations. The total number necessary was approximately 2500 copies. The second issue of the Bulletin for 1995 (Vol.14 No.2) was prepared and published at the end of February 1996. Unfortunately due to budget restrictions it was only possible to publish 1500 copies. Therefore it was not possible to fulfil the demands of some member associations. As was tentatively agreed in the Executive Committee, the maximum number of copies forwarded to any National Delegate was 100 copies.
The first issue of the Bulletin for 1996 (Vol.15 No.1) was prepared and published at the end of August 1996. The second issue of the Bulletin for 1996 (Vol.15 No.2) was prepared and published at the end of February 1997. The first issue of the Bulletin for 1997 (Vol.16 No.1) were prepared and published at the end of August 1997.
The second issue for 1997 (Vol.16 No.2) was prepared and published at the end of March 1998. This issue was printed as 2000 copies. Upon the agreement between EAEE Central Office and AFPS (French Association for Earthquake Engineering), AFPS paid 1 US$ per issue to cover the direct mailing cost of the Bulletin to all AFPS members (approximately 500).
A total of 1940 copies of the last issue of the EAEE Bulletin were distributed to:
INTERNET - WEB
The Internet-EAEE web Pages that were created in 1995 were updated continuously. It is composed of different pages containing:
Links were established with the Home Pages of the European Seismological Commission (ESC) and of the International Association of Seismology and Physics of Earth's Interior (IASPEI).
The present address of the EAEE Home Pages is:
http://www.ins.itu.edu.tr/eaee/eaee.htm
The opening page of the EAEE web pages was printed on the back cover of the EAEE Bulletin Vol.15 No.2 to inform the members of National Organisations and all other interested parties.
UNESCO / NGO
The Central office made a formal application to Habitat Secretariat for accreditation to participate to the Second UN Conference on Human Settlements, Habitat II organised in Istanbul during June 3-14, 1996. The official participation EAEE was approved and the Secretary General participated to the official forum and to some of the NGO meetings.
In the General Conference of UNESCO in 1995, it was decided to evaluate and reclassify all international non-governmental organisations previously classified in former A, B and C categories. EAEE was admitted to category C in 1976. An application letter with all the supporting documents (Minutes of the Executive Committee, Minutes of the Task Group Meetings, Bulletins, names and addresses of all Executive Committee Members and National Delegates, information about all Task and Working Groups, list of recent conferences and regional seminars) were forwarded to UNESCO. An appeal was made to upgrade the previous classification and be admitted to the new category named “Formal Associate Relations”.
The Central Office was informed in July, 1997 by the Director of the Division of Relations with International Organisations, that EAEE has been admitted into the category named as "Operational Relations" for a provisional period one year by the Director General of UNESCO.
Following this development, EAEE was invited to attend the Extraordinary Conference of Non-Governmental Organisations Maintaining Official Relations with UNESCO held on 21 November 1997 in Paris, France. The Secretary General participated to this meeting to be more informed about the activities going on among different NGO's and UNESCO.
Central Office was informed in July, 1998 by the Director of the Division of Relations with International Organisations that EAEE was transferred into the category named as "Informal Relations" by the Director General of UNESCO.
OTHERS
Information concerning EAEE and its activities were sent to following organisations:
Atilla Ansal
Secretary General
August 1998