This volume contains the most relevant peer-reviewed papers presented at The First International Workshop on Vrancea Earthquakes, held in Bucharest on November 1-4, 1997. Strong earthquakes in the Romanian Vrancea area have caused a high toll of casualties and extensive damage over the last several centuries. With a moment magnitude of 7.4, the 1977 earthquake caused more than 1500 casualties, the majority of them in Bucharest. The contributions address key problems of seismotectonics of the Vrancea area and related strong ground motion, hazard assessment, site effects and microzonation, structural damage and earthquake resistant design, risk assessment and disaster management from an international and regional perspective. This list of topics shows the diverse contributions from the multidisciplinary fields of geosciences, geophysics, seismology, geology, civil engineering, city planning, and emergency relief practices. This book is of value for scientists interested in earthquake hazard and seismic risk research as well as for seismologists, geophysicists and Earth scientists. It is also useful for authorities responsible for public safety and natural hazard mitigation plans and for insurance companies.

Inhalt

1. Modern Recording of Seismic Strong Motion for Hazard Reduction.- 2. Seismotectonics of the Romanian Vrancea Area.- 3. Weak and Strong Ground Motion of Intermediate Depth Earthquakes from the Vrancea Region.- 4. The Romanian Earthquake Catalogue Between 9841997.- 5. Twenty Years Recording of Albanian Seismological Network: A Catalogue and Distribution of Seismic Energy Released.- 6. Studies Concerning Directionality of Seismic Action for Vrancea Earthquakes.- 7. Classification and Evaluation of Vrancea Earthquake Records from Republic of Moldova.- 8. Seismic Microzonation of Site Effects.- 9. Modelling, for Microzonation Purposes, of the Seismic Ground Motion in Bucharest, Due to the Vrancea Earthquake of May 30, 1990.- 10. Reliability of Response Spectrum Curves at Low Frequency Region.- 11. Seismic Microzoning of Bucharest (Romania): A Critical Review.- 12. 2-D Modeling of Site Response for Microzonation Purposes.- 13. Near-Surface Geology and Dynamic Properties of Soil Layers in Bucharest.- 14. A Note on Empirical Site Responses in Bucharest, Romania.- 15. Macroseismic Field of the Romanian Intermediate-Depth Earthquakes.- 16. The Seismic Earth Response by Considering Nonlinear Behavior of the Soils to Strong Vrancea Earthquakes.- 17. Influence of Local Soil Conditions on Earthquake Motion in the Territory of Moldavia Republic.- 18. Seismic Retrofitting of Reinforced Concrete Buildings in Romania.- 19. Dynamic Behaviour of High Damping Rubber Bearings for Building Seismic Isolation.- 20. Seismic Vulnerability of Buildings Exposed to Vrancea Earthquakes in Romania.- 21. Eurocode 8 Versus Romanian Seismic Practice. Case Study of a Dual Wall Equivalent RC Structure.- 22. Eurocode 8 Versus Romanian Seismic Practice. Case Study of an Eight-Story RC Frame-SystemBuilding.- 23. Towards a National Earthquake Protection Program under the Conditions of Romania.- 24. Hazard Assessment and Site-Dependent Response for Vrancea Earthquakes.- 25. Deterministic Seismic Hazard Assessment.- 26. Urban Earthquake Disaster Risk Assessment and Management.- 27. Earthquake Risk Analysis and Management.- 28. Improvements in Local Disaster Management: a Site-Selection Location-Allocation Model.- 29. Urban Area 3D Model Realized by Photogrammetric Methods for Disaster Evaluation.- 30. An Approach for the Detection of Damages in Buildings from Digital Aerial Information.- 31. 25 Seconds for Bucharest.- Workshop Program.- List of Contributors.- List of Reviewers.- List of Participants.