Earthquake engineering in the Mediterranean

‘Seismicity and earthquake engineering in the extended Mediterranean region’ was the theme of the 32nd meeting of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) programme ‘Reducing Earthquake Losses in the Extended Mediterranean Region’ (RELEMR) that was held recently in Malta, hosted by the University’s Physics Department.

The meeting was attended by around 65 participants from 27 countries all around the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East, from Spain and Portugal to Israel and Palestine up to Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman.

The participants were all high-ranking scientists, seismologists, geologists and engineers from ministerial authorities, geological surveys, universities and research institutes.

Due to its geological structure, seismicity, active tectonics, topography and climate the Mediterranean region has been frequently been subject to natural disasters resulting in great losses of life and property. Large areas of the land surface, population, infrastructure and industry of the region have experienced earthquakes in the past.

Unesco and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) launched the RELEMR programme in Cairo in 1993 with the aim of assessing, evaluating and reducing expected earthquake losses in the region. The purpose of RELEMR workshops are to foster data exchange among countries in the region; to conduct joint activities and experiments to improve the quality of seismic data; to improve hazard assessments in the Mediterranean region; to improve the dissemination of earthquake engineering data; and, ultimately, to improve the seismic provisions of building codes in the region.

During the workshop held in Malta, sessions were held on palaeoseismicity – the study of ancient earthquakes that could offer clues about future ones, seismic site effects – the local response of the site surface to earthquake ground shaking, and the tools to measure and predict it, a methodology for assessing the safety of schools, as well as other presentations on seismology and earthquake engineering.

The presence of scientists from different disciplines contributed greatly to the general discussion about a holistic approach toward formulating policies for the mitigation of disaster resulting from earthquakes in the extended Mediterranean.

The meeting was opened by Ray Bondin, Malta’s ambassador and permanent delegate to Unesco, and was addressed among others by Badaoui Rouhban, director of Unesco’s Disaster Reduction Section in Paris, Michael Foose from USGS, Charles Sammut, dean of the University’s Faculty of Science and Pauline Galea from the Physics Department’s Seismic Monitoring Unit.