Workshop - Mitigation of Seismic Risk - Support to Recently Affected European Countries

Support to Recently Affected European Countries

November 27-28, 2000, Hotel Villa Carlotta, Belgirate, Italy

Preamble

This workshop is an initiative of the Joint Research Centre on the grounds of informal discussions between Mr. Papayannakis, Member of The European Parliament, and Mr. Busquin, EC Commissioner for Research, just after the Earthquakes that struck Turkey and Greece last year.

The workshop is jointly organized by the Joint Research Centre (ELSA team of ISIS) and the DG Environment (Civil Protection Unit). It is divided into four parts, namely: 1) Recent Earthquakes - Lessons and Expectations, 2) Earthquake Related Activities in the EU and Abroad, 3) Policy Issues, and 4) Research and Action Needs (two parallel sessions - one on Earthquake Engineering and another on Civil Protection and Risk Management). It ends with a Round-table attempting to answer the question: "What do we need to better mitigate seismic risk in Europe?”

The objective of the event is to bring together scientists, supporters to policy and decision making and National and European authorities to present and discuss the problems related with civil protection, reconstruction and repair of the affected areas and preventive protection of high-risk zones. A major scope is to set-up an integrated programme for effective mitigation of the seismic risk in Europe. Preparation of a background document on the required short-term and medium-term future actions is proposed.

The workshop format and program were defined on the advice of the organizing (strategic) committee. It includes oral presentations from invited speakers and poster contributions. The objective is to cover the major issues related to seismic risk mitigation and to review the results from recent programmes, actions and research projects undertaken and developed at National and European levels.

In spite of the fact that the Workshop was announced with very short notice, we had to increase the limited number of participants in order to accommodate most of the registration requests. This clearly reflects the importance of the subject and also the interest of the National Authorities and of the research and technical communities.

Part of the invited speakers and poster authors could not comply with the too short deadline for delivering the written contributions. Therefore, this preliminary version of the proceedings is not complete; it is foreseen to issue a final version after the workshop, including contributions from all speakers, poster authors and the conclusions and recommendations, as addressed in the workshop round-table scheduled for the second day.

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we thank you all for the support and contribution given to the workshop. In particular, the participations of the Vice-Ministers of Public Works from Greece, Mr. Nasos Alevras, and Portugal, Mr. Luís Parreirão, and from Mr. Mihail Papayannakis, Member of The European Parliament, are deeply appreciated. Their presence is an implicit recognition of the potential importance of the event for their countries and for the European Community.

Michel Géradin & Artur Pinto

Patronage Committee

Mihail Papayannakis, MEP, EP; Philippe Busquin, Commissioner, EC; Margot Wallström, Commissioner, EC; Nasos Alevras, Vice-Minister of Public Works, Greece; Luís Parreirão, Vice-Minister of Public Works, Portugal; Franco Barberi, Director of Civil Protection Agency, Italy; Achilleas Mitsos, Director General Research, EC; James Currie, Director General Environment, EC; Herbert Allgeier, Director General JRC, EC; Evangelos Vardakas, Director, Conformity and Standardization, DG Enterprise, EC, Mustafa Taymaz, Director, The General Directorate of Disaster Affairs, Ministry of Public Works and Settlement, Ankara, Turkey, Theodossios P. Tassios, Professor Emeritus, Technical University of Athens, Greece

Organizing Committee (strategic committee)

David Wilkinson, DG - Joint Research Centre, Institute for Systems Informatics and Safety; Michel Geradin & Artur Pinto, DG - Joint Research Centre, Institute for Systems Informatics and Safety, Safety in Structural Mechanics; Alessandro Barisich & Panagiotis Alevantis, DG - Environment, Civil Protection; Yvan Capouet, Cabinet of Mr. Busquin; Pierre Frigola, DG - Joint Research Centre, Interinstitutional and International Relations; Marco Malacarne & Christopher Lowry, DG - Research, Human potential and mobility - Access to research infrastructures; Marie Yeroyanni, DG - Research, Preserving the ecosystem I - Biodiversity and Global Change; Vicente Leoz Argüelles & Georgios Katsarakis, DG - Enterprise, Conformity and standardisation, new approach, industries under new approach – Construction; Jean-Pierre Massué, EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement; Atila Ansal, European Association for Earthquake Engineering, University of Istanbul, Turkey; Roy Severn, University of Bristol, Earthquake Engineering Research Centre, UK; Michael Fardis, University of Patras, Department of Civil Engineering, Greece

Local Organizing Committee

D. Wilkinson, M. Geradin, A. Pinto, V. Renda, G. Magonette, P. Pegon, A. Anthoine, P. Negro, J. Molina, E. Gutierrez, K. Mehr, L. Papa, U. Engelmann

PROGRAMME

27-28 November, November 27, 2000 – Monday

Chairman: M. GERADIN; Co-chairman: A. PINTO

Opening Ceremony

Mr. M. Papayanakis, Member of the European Parliament, EP

Mr. Ph. Busquin, Commissioner for Research, EC, (Video Registered Message)

Mrs. M. Wallstrom, Commissioner for Environment, EC, (Message read by P. Alevantis)

Mr. N. Alevras, Vice-Minister of Public Works, Greece

Mr. L. Parreirao, Vice-Minister of Public Works, Portugal

Mr. D. Wilkinson, Director of the Inst. for Systems Informatics and Safety, JRC (Representing the Joint Research Centre Director-General)

Keynote Lecture:

Earthquake Engineering in Europe, Issues and Challenges

T.P. Tassios, Emeritus Professor, NTU Athens

Part 1 - Recent Earthquakes - Lessons and Expectations

Session 1: Chairman: A.Ghazi; Co-chairman: A.Ansal

Prevention and mitigation of seismic risk in Greece, V. Andrianakis, President EPPO, Greece

The 1999 Athens Earthquake, G. Gazetas, Professor, NTU Athens

The 1999 Turkey Earthquakes and Prevention and mitigation of seismic risk in Turkey, H. Sucuoğlu, Professor, EERC, MET Univ., Ankara, Turkey

Recent earthquakes and Prevention and mitigation of seismic risk in Italy, F. Sabetta, Deputy-Director of Servizio Sismico Nazionale, Italy

Recent earthquakes and Prevention and mitigation of seismic risk in Portugal, C.S. Oliveira, President of Earthquake Engineering Society, Civil Protection Adviser

Part 2 - Earthquake Related Activities in the EU and Abroad

Session 2: Chairman: E. Alarcon; Co-chairman: J. Pauschke

European Commission

Community research in the field of Earthquake Engineering, A. Ghazi, Biodiversity and Global Change, DG Research, EC

Community actions in the field of Civil Protection, P. Alevantis, Civil Protection, DG Environment

Community actions in the field of Standardization for Earthquake Protection, G. Katsarakis, Construction - DG Enterprise

Non-European Views and Programmes

Mitigation of Seismic Risk - American Views and Programmes, P.Nelson, Division Director (NSF), USA

Integrated Management for Earthquake Disaster Risk in Japan, H. Tatano, DPRI, Kyoto, Japan

Session 3: Chairman: P. Carydis; Co-chairman: G. Magonette

Other Associations and Bodies

CEN Activities in the Field of the Eurocodes, H. Bossenmayer, Chairman of CEN/TC250 (Structural Eurocodes)

Contribution of EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement to the mitigation of seismic risks, JP. Massue, EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement

ECCREDI Activities - Relevance to Seismic Risk Mitigation, K. Meskouris, ECCREDI

IIASA Activities on Earthquake Risk Management, A. Amendola, IIASA, Vienna

The World Association of Structural Control - Relevance for earthquake protection, F. Casciati, Univ. of Pavia

Activities of the EAEE - The Role of Central European Countries, A. Ansal, EAEE General Secretary

European Projects

Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructures, R. Severn, Univ. of Bristol

Seismic Hazard in Europe and Design Seismic Actions - Harmonization needs, N. Ambraseys, Imp. College, London

Research and Training - Earthquake Engineering Research Projects, A. Elnashai, Imp. College, London

November 28, 2000 – Tuesday

Part 3 - Policy issues

Session 4: Chairman: J. Mazars; Co-chairman: A. Castellani

Cultural Heritage Specific Problems, G. Croci, Univ. of Rome

Policies For Seismic Risk Mitigation: Greek Experience, S. Anagnostopoulos, Univ. Patras

The Role of Insurance Companies, A. Smolka, Munich RE

The Role of the National Associations, P. Sollougub, AFPS, France

Part 4 - Research and Action Needs

Part 4-EE (earthquake engineering)

Session 5-EE: Chairman: A. Plumier; Co-chairman: M. Meskouris

European Design Codes for Structures in Earthquake Prone Regions (Eurocode 8) - Present state, co-normative and pre-normative research needs

Topic Coordinator: M. Fardis, Speakers: M. Fardis, C.S. Oliveira, J. Bouwkamp

Seismic assessment and strengthening of existing vulnerable constructions - Present state and research needs

Topic Coordinator: P.E. Pinto, Speakers: P.E. Pinto, A. Elnashai

Session 6-EE: Chairman: J. Bouwkamp; Co-chairman: P. Negro

New methods for assessment and design of structures in seismic zones (present state and research needs)

Topic Coordinator: GM. Calvi, Speakers: GM. Calvi, P. Fajfar

Seismic Design of Large European civil Engineering Works (Challenges and Research Needs)

Topic Coordinator: A. Pecker, Speakers: A. Pecker, A. Capra

Design and construction control procedures (present state in different European Countries and harmonization needs)

Topic Coordinator: E. Carvalho, Speakers: E. Carvalho

Part 4-CP&RM (civil protection and risk management)

Session 5-CP&RM: Chairman: P. Alevantis; Co-chairman: A. Amendola

Needs for research into socio-economic impacts of Earthquakes

Topic Coordinator: I. Bergiannakis, Speakers: I. Bergiannakis

Needs for Research in the Civil Protection Area

Topic Coordinator: P. Alevantis, Speakers: P. Alevantis, D. Galanopoulos

Session 6-CP&RM: Session Chairman: F. Rocha; Co-chairman: H. Tatano

Organizational Methodology for Civil Protection (The Formidable Project and Beyond)

Topic Coordinator: P. Alevantis, Speakers: K. Holevas

Risk reduction strategies for seismic events and the NEDIES Project

Topic Coordinator: A. Lucia, Speakers: Theofili

Round-Table

Presentation of results and recommendations of working groups

What we need to better mitigate seismic risk in Europe? (Chairman: T.P. Tassios)

Conclusions and Recommendations

Summary

The workshop mitigation of seismic risk – support to the recently affected countries was organized by the Joint Research Centre and DG Environment with the support of several European institutions, associations and national governments.

The objective was to bring together the Commission Services concerned, the National Authorities and the Scientific and Technical Communities to discuss the main issues for seismic risk mitigation and to propose adequate actions to alleviate and hopefully avoid the catastrophic effects of earthquakes in Europe.

The participants (150 participants from 21 different countries, including USA and Japan) presented and discussed their views and action plans for seismic risk mitigation. They approved a series of actions and procedures that should be undertaken in Europe to accomplish such an objective.

The discussion held at the end of the Workshop identified five key points for an effective mitigation of the seismic risk which can be part of a ‘European action plan’ aiming to promote disaster mitigation efforts in Europe. These are:

1. The involvement of all the relevant institutions and organizations (European Commission, National Governments, Regional authorities, Associations, Private sector (including insurance));

2. The importance of citizen protection from risks within the EU policies. The enlargement of the EU enhances the importance of earthquake risk mitigation since the candidate states are often earthquake prone countries (e.g. Romania, Slovenia and Turkey);

3. The focus on a list of selected topics related to Earthquake risk mitigation for which further action/development have been identified;

4. The need of a EU-based platform for:

· formal co-operation between National Earthquake mitigation agencies;

· advice on the balance between the different relevant actions required (Research, Education, Regulatory documents, Civil protection, …);

5. The need of increased international collaboration. Collaboration between EU, USA and Japan must be promoted and the new information technologies should be fully exploited for this goal.

Background

The workshop mitigation of seismic risk – support to the recently affected countries was an initiative of the Joint Research Centre on the grounds of informal discussions between M. Papayannakis, MEP, and M. Busquin, Commissioner for Research, just after the Earthquakes that struck Turkey and Greece in 1999.

The workshop was jointly organized by the Joint Research Centre, Safety in Structural Mechanics Unit and DG-Environment, Civil Protection Unit with collaboration from DG Research, DG Enterprise, the European Consortium of Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructures and several European Associations, institutions and experts.

The recent earthquakes in Europe caused heavy dead and economic losses (the death toll in Turkey (1999) is estimated at 40,000 human lives and more than 200,000 housing units will have to be built) but, looking a few years back, one finds similar or even more catastrophic seismic events (In 1980, a terrible earthquake struck southern Italy, killing 4,580 people and leaving 250,000 homeless). The Umbria/Marche, 1997, Italy, earthquake is an example of heavy damage to the priceless European architectural heritage.

Earthquakes are by far the most deadly natural disasters in the world. A third of the world's population lives in areas considered to be "at risk". Damage is greater today for two reasons: First of all, countries are more densely populated, including those at risk; Secondly, there is new industrial infrastructure that may be vulnerable in the event of an earthquake: gas and oil pipelines, dams, chemical plants, communication networks, and so on.

There is no doubt that man shall not be able to prevent earthquake occurrences. However, we are able to gain a better understanding of the complex mechanisms behind these events and therefore we must design, construct and retrofit our buildings and infrastructures adequately, limiting the damage that earthquakes cause.

Earthquake risk is, first of all, a public safety issue to which International, National and Regional authorities are deemed to enforce appropriate mitigation measures and provide adequate means to protect citizens. It is however underlined that protection includes several aspects, namely: prevention and mitigation, preparedness and intervention, research and regulatory documents, information and training, implying involvement of different disciplines and actors. Therefore, initiatives promoting international co-operation and mutual assistance contribute in achieving a higher level of seismic safety. Promoting information exchange and networking is an effective way towards this direction.

Scope and objectives

The objective of the workshop was to bring together the Commission Services concerned, the National Authorities and Scientific and Technical Communities to discuss the main issues for seismic risk mitigation and propose adequate actions to alleviate and hopefully to avoid the catastrophic effects of earthquakes in Europe.

As stated by Commissioner Busquin in his introductory message to the workshop participants, this objective fits with the wishes of the Commission and its President, Mr Prodi, and particularly with the fact that we find appropriate solutions for problems that dramatically hurt the citizen. Specifically, the problems related to human life, economic and social damages and also, as we unfortunately saw during the recent earthquakes, losses of our cultural heritage. Therefore, it is worth to reinforce collaboration and bring up guidance for the future. This workshop fits in with the “European Research Area” that aims to bring European researchers into networks dedicated to the provision of both specific services (early alert, anticipation, quick response, validation and integration of knowledge, interfacing with stakeholders and policy makers) and products (e. g. generation of databases, common standards, etc.)

Also, as pointed out by Commissioner Wallström, “we have achieved a higher level of understanding disasters and we have certainly developed better ways to face them. However, we are still facing an increasing level of vulnerability due to Europe's high population density and urbanisation, associated to the ever-higher complexity of our economies. Additionally, as news arrive almost instantaneously at everyone’s home, public opinion is requesting a better and safer European environment. To meet this objective, we expect the research and engineering community to help us in several areas. First and above all in prevention. Through training and information. By ensuring a better understanding of the psycho-social-economic effects of disasters.”

Workshop program and contributions

The workshop was attended by 150 participants from 21 different countries, (EU, Enlargement countries, USA and Japan) and covered most of the aspects related to earthquakes under the term «mitigation». In fact, under this term, prevention and mitigation, preparedness and intervention, information and training as well as other aspects concerning the seismic risk in Europe were covered.

The Workshop Programme included the participation of representatives of different European Institutions, Associations and from three EC General Directorates involved in Standardisation (DG Enterprise), Civil Protection (DG Environment) and Research (DG Research). These are the main three components that should be taken into account for Seismic Risk Mitigation. Furthermore, the National Authorities supported the initiative, as it was expressed by their Governmental representation at the highest level.

Representatives from the United States and Japan also presented their experiences and programs and opened doors for a real implementation of the co-operation agreements already set-up between their States and the European Commission. Natural Hazards and corresponding risk mitigation, at a certain stage and to some extent, should be considered at world level.

The Workshop programme was divided into four parts, namely; Part 1 - Recent earthquakes in Europe – Lessons and Expectations, Part 2 - Earthquake Related Activities in the EU and Abroad, Part 3 - Policy issues and Part 4 - Research and Action Needs. Furthermore, a round-table discussion took place at the end of the second day under the general heading: - What do we need to better mitigate seismic risk in Europe ?

During the opening ceremony, M Papayannakis, Member of the European Parliament, addressed the participants expressing his support and the support of the European Parliament to the initiative and underlying the importance of the event for the European citizens in seismic prone zones. Moreover, M. Papayannakis offered his efforts to promote the recommendations of the workshop, specifically in the appropriate Commisions of the EP.

The EC Commissioner for Research, Ph. Busquin, addressed the participants by a video registered message and M. Alevantis, representative of the Civil Protection Unit, read a written message from the Commissioner for Environment, M. Wallström.

The vice-Minister for Public Works from Portugal, L. Parreirão, addressed the participants underlying the importance of the initiative and summarizing the National activities and proposing a series of actions at European level for an effective mitigation of the seismic risks.

The Director of ISIS, JRC, D. Wilkinson, pointed out the aspects of public safety concerned with the mission of the JRC and highlighted several aspects relevant to the Commission new approach for research – the European Research Area - and proposed to set-up an integrated programme for seismic risk mitigation in Europe involving the European Parliament, the European Commission, National and Regional Authorities and all other interested Institutions.

Representatives from the Greek, Italian and Turkish Authorities also expressed their viewpoints on the matter and summarized their initiatives and actions, challenging the European authorities for integrated and co-ordinated actions at the European Union level.

The first part of the workshop, which included critical reporting of the lessons learned from the Greek, Turkish, Italian and Portuguese recent earthquakes, was followed by a keynote lecture by Professor Tassios, entitled Mitigation of Seismic risk in Europe – Issues and Challenges. He addressed the technical and policy aspects and underlined the pioneer Community programmes on training of researchers, the role of the design and construction regulations and civil protection services.

The second part of the workshop was devoted to the earthquake related activities in the EU and abroad. Representatives of the three concerned DGs (Research, Enterprise and Environment) presented the activities and actions supported and promoted and gave indications on the future potential priorities.

Priscilla Nelson, program director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), USA, presented the NSF views and programmes. In particular the newly launched Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES), which is deemed to transform earthquake engineering research from its current reliance on physical experiments to investigations based on integrated models, databases and model-based simulation, exploiting Internet technology to integrate and interconnect these nationally distributed facilities with a computer network to afford remote access. The NEES network will provide interoperability, resource sharing, scalable and efficient net-wide deployment, open-system standardization, database consistency and integrity, and modularity in both software and hardware architectures. Total NSF funding for the NEES project is 81.9 Million Dollars over the period 2000-2004

H. Tatano, from the Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University, Japan, presented the activities of DPRI. More specifically, he described a proposed integrated management system for disaster risk mitigation, including the need for examining the urban vulnerability from such an integrated perspective. The inter-relations between urban disaster risk management and urban planning and management were underlined as well as the role of individual cities in modern society, as part of regional or global networks, involving information, communication and transportation technologies as well as socio-cultural interdependency. It was therefore pointed out that urban disaster risk management is a task involving research and corresponding integration and partnership between academics and practitioners (policy-makers, administrators, engineers, operators, etc.).

Representatives from European and international organizations and associations such as Eur-opa Major Hazards Agreement, CEN (Comité Européen de Normalisation), European Association for Earthquake Engineering (EAEE), European Association for Structural Control (EASC), International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) summarized their activities and role. A few European funded projects on Earthquake Engineering and Seismic Hazard were presented with particular emphasis on the European consortium of Large-scale facilities for earthquake research and the Research and Training networks. Their strong contribution to the set-up of coordinated research programmes for earthquake protection and to training of young researchers as well as fostering international collaborations was underlined

The second day was devoted to policy issues for seismic risk mitigation and also included contributions from the insurance companies. Furthermore, parallel sessions on earthquake engineering and civil protection and risk management addressed the main topics for research, codification (Eurocode 8) and civil protection and risk management coordination.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Most of the participants congratulated the organizing committee of the workshop and considered it as the first opportunity to discuss the earthquake risk issues in a broader framework. These positive reactions came essentially from the political and decision-making representatives, who are facing in their countries and institutions many difficulties in setting-up appropriate measures and actions for seismic risk mitigation.

The response and recovery efforts -even if successful- cannot eliminate disaster consequences. Therefore, the importance of preventive measures against natural and environmental risks should be reflected to the disaster protection policy and initiatives at both national and international levels.

Modern cities have become increasingly vulnerable to earthquake disasters due to the over-concentration of population and economic activities, the complexity of infrastructure and systems, the transformation of life styles and the lack of public awareness. Therefore, it should be recognised that earthquake risk mitigation is one of the most important policy components contributing to sustainable development in seismic regions.

There is a common feeling that a ‘European action plan’ should be initiated aiming to promote disaster mitigation efforts in Europe.

The workshop round-table discussion identified five key points for an effective mitigation of the seismic risk in Europe. These are (see Table 1):

1) The establishment of the list of institutions and organizations to whom the recommendations should be addressed, having in view the involvement of all the relevant actors (European Commission, National Governments, Regional authorities, Associations, Private sector, including insurance) for the creation of maximum synergies;

2) The highlighting of the importance of the document to the EU policies in what concerns the protection of citizens from risks. Furthermore, it was noticed that the enlargement of the EU emphasises the importance of earthquake risk mitigation because the candidate states are in many cases seismic sensitive countries (e.g.: Romania, Slovenia and Turkey);

3) The identification of a list of selected subjects related to Earthquake risk mitigation for which the need for further action/development were identified. They are frequently interdependent and multidisciplinary, they integrate science, engineering and management and involve the academics, the technical community and the citizens;

4) The confirmation of a need for a EU-based platform for the formal co-operation between National Earthquake mitigation agencies and for the provision of advice on the appropriate balance between the different relevant actions which are required (Research, Education, Regulatory documents, Construction Quality control, Civil protection, …);

5) The agreement on the need for further international collaboration. Earthquake risk mitigation should be considered at a certain stage and to some extent a worldwide problem, and therefore collaboration between EU, USA and Japan must be promoted and the new information technologies should be fully exploited for this goal.

Table 1– Key points for an effective mitigation of the seismic risk in Europe (as discussed and agreed during the workshop round-table)