The strong earthquakes that we face in Europe from time to time leave
the surviving persons with the affliction of the loss of beloved members of
their family and neighbours. But these persons also have to face the damage or
the demolition of their house, which adds confusion to affliction.
In the future, the assessment of the residual
strength of buildings after an earthquake and also the assessment of the
seismic performance of existing structures before earthquake, and their
reinforcement in both cases, will be a major subject of concern in the seismic
areas. Here again, it will be of utmost
importance to find inexpensive ways to improve the situation, mainly in poor
countries; otherwise the goals will not be achieved in practical terms and/or
in a reasonable time. Technical
documents and standards dealing with this subject are now available, but work
should continue to adapt the procedures to the actual social and economical
possibilities.
To prepare the future, young researchers and
engineers must be involved in this field.
Therefore, the decision of our Swiss colleagues to focus the Regional
Seminar they organise from the 3rd to the 7th of
September on the subject of seismic assessment and reinforcement of structures
is an excellent choice and we can trust that the young attendees will benefit
as much as possible from the lectures and of the research reports which will be
presented at that time.
Many members of our national associations are
involved in the work of conversion of the EUROCODE-8 ENV into a European Norm
(EN). This is a very important task, which will give to a great number of our
European countries a common basis of safety against earthquakes. Major progress
has been made during the last period; they have taken into account recent
research and experimental results obtained in Europe and elsewhere. EUROCODE-8
is a very important issue, which I think will be a major topic of the next
ECEE.
Our TGs and WGs face difficulties to meet and
sometimes the work does not progress very much. Nevertheless, some of them have
performed an efficient task and results will be presented in the London
Conference. The Executive Committee of your European Association has already
discussed the ways to improve the situation, which will entail possibilities of
financing through our Association. We will also have to take into account the
evolution of the political and economical situation in Europe. All these facts
will lead to the Executive Committee proposing at the next General Assembly
modifications in the functioning and the statutes of our Association.
However, the improvements that can be
imagined to the functioning of our Association can be done only with the
volunteer work of the participants to the working and task groups and to other
activities, and once again I encourage all national associations to participate
in our European works.
Philippe
Bisch