ALBERT

Description: Central Asia was identified as one of the regions of the world with the highest seismic hazard and risk. However, the actual lack and heterogeneity of available seismological and vulnerability data make any possible seismic risk scenario highly uncertain. In order to improve seismic risk assessment in Central Asia efforts must be carried out to both increase the seismological knowledge in the area and to update and harmonise the existing vulnerability data set in the different countries. To this regard, within the Central Asia Cross-Border Natural Disaster Prevention (CASCADE) project, financed by the German Federal Foreign Office, a cross-border seismological and strong motion network in Central Asia (CAREMON) was installed. Microzonation studies in the capitals of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan were started, and those for Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan were triggered. The collection of a harmonised (in terms of the European Macroseismic Scale EMS) building vulnerability data base was also achieved, and a capacity building and training program accompanied all the different tasks of the project. All these activities were carried out within the framework of, and supported by, the Global Change Observatory Central Asia (GCO-CA). The digital data collected by the CAREMON network will allow to improve localisation of the seismicity in the area and to improve completeness of earthquake catalogues necessary for sounded seismic hazard assessment at regional scale. The results of the microzonation will be exploited for improving the seismic hazard and risk assessment in the capitals. Attempts were already carried out for Bishkek. Follow-up activities, including the establishment of a vertical array of accelerometer in Bishkek, are foreseen for further improving seismic hazard and risk analysis in Central Asia.

Description: The megacity Istanbul, the economical capital of Turkey, with more than 10 million inhabitants is exposed to a significant earthquake risk since the level of ground motion due to a possible earthquake in this area and the vulnerability of the building stock are high. Therefore, several projects have focused their attention on the estimation of seismic hazard and seismic risk for Istanbul. Among others, the CEDIM: Megacity Istanbul project, the SAFER (Seismic eArly warning For EuRope), and EDIM (Earthquake Data Information system for the Marmara Sea, Turkey) contributed to improve seismic hazard assessment. In particular the application of the microzonation method allows both the estimation of the fundamental resonance frequency, and of soil velocity profiles by means of using seismic noise analysis. The results highlight areas that might be prone to ground motion amplification. The SAFER and EDIM projects allowed the development and installation of an innovative Self-Organising Seismic Early Warning Information Network (SOSEWIN) that also allows for monitoring of the vibration characteristics and dynamic properties of strategic civil infrastructures, as validated by performing tests on the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge. With our improved knowledge a realistic earthquake scenario with strong ground motion can be derived, as a basis for predicting such movement during an earthquake and with the help of an early warning system the people of Istanbul can be warned before the strong S-waves arrive.