The Mount Parnitha (Athens) Earthquake of September 7, 1999: A Disaster Management Perspective

Natural Hazards - Strong earthquakes in the proximity of densely inhabited urban areas pose one ofthe most complicated disaster management situations faced by societies today. Herethe experience...     

The fall and rise of metropolitan government in Copenhagen

In this paper it is argued that the re-establishment of a metropolitan government in the Greater Copenhagen Area in 2000 (Greater Copenhagen Authority) is not to be seen as a return to the kind of regional, coordinative authority (Greater Copenhagen Council) that was abolished in the Thatcherite climate of the 1980s. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s new forms of urban governance, entrepreneurialism and a higher national priority to the capital region were introduced, which changed the conditions under which the new metropolitan government is operating. This `contextualization' of the analysis of the two generations of metropolitan government points to the fact that typologies of metropolitan government, such as the one put forward by Sharpe (1995), often lacks analytical cogency. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Milan: The city of constant renewal

Traditional models of urban development are no longer adequate to describe current metropolitan transformations. These are now at the centre of a debate concerning management and administration. In Italy, delays in resolving problems of urban and metropolitan government, despite the legal framework provided by Law 142/90, have weighed heavily on the larger urban areas of the country: Rome, Naples, Milan, which have not been able to tackle the issue of metropolitan government. Recent legislation, while not providing a pre-defined institutional solution, allows separate administrative districts to collectively establish metropolitan institutions of `variable geometry'. The Milan urban area is not one city, but a system of mutually-dependent cities, linked to each other and the rest of the world by a transport network still requiring much investment. The vitality of its economic structure (especially its small firms) is held back by seriously inadequate infrastructure and low external economic efficiency. The provincial capital may boast `historic centrality' but the most interesting potential for development is to be found on the periphery and in the administrative districts immediately surrounding it, in the recovery of derelict industrial areas and dormitory towns established in the 1950s and 1960s, especially to the north. Recovery of derelict areas, green areas, and better transport links within the urban area and with the outside world are the key elements in the reorganization of `Greater Milan'. In this situation of rapid transformation the most appropriate political strategies involve negotiated planning. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Documentary and Geological Records of Tsunamis in the Aegean Sea Region of Greece and their Potential Value to Risk Assessment and Disaster Management

Understanding the nature and impacts of tsunamis within the Aegean Sea region ofGreece is of importance to both the academic community and those organisationsconcerned with tsunami disaster management. In order to determine hazard and riskand consequently pre-plan mitigative strategies, it is necessary to analyse historical(documentary) and geological records of former tsunami events. Therefore, firstlythis paper provides a summary of the written sources of information on Aegeantsunamis paying particular attention to published catalogues. From the availabledata, it is noted that a large number of events have been reported during the last3500 years. Secondly, the paper provides a review of the published on-shore(terrestrial) geological records of tsunamis within the region. From this analysisit is seen that little geological evidence has been identified for the large numberof tsunamis reported in the catalogues. Thirdly, the paper considers the reliabilityof the written and geological records and how problems of accuracy, coverage,extent and reliability, may have potential implications for the estimation of hazardand risk. The paper concludes by making recommendations for disaster managers,geologists and historians to work closely together.     

天祝-古浪5.4级地震震源机制和发震断层以及海原西断裂大震危险性讨论

研究了发生在海西断裂天祝拉分盆地1996年6月1日5.4级地震的震源机制，利用位于天祝－古浪地区的数字式微震监测台网纪录的余震的精确定位确定了本次地震的发震断层，研究表明这次地震是天祝拉分盆地中垂直于主断裂的近南北向断裂所形成，根据破裂模型和海原西断裂的应力积累状况，讨论了海原西断裂近期的大震危险性。     

四川省房屋建筑易损性研究

研究房屋建筑易损性特征是防震减灾工作必不可少的环节之一，本文通过对多年工作的系统总结，得出四川省不同地区的房屋建筑易损性矩阵，全省房屋建筑抗震性能总体水平不高，这是造成地震灾害加重的主要原因之一，随着经济发展实力的提高，适当提高全省房屋建筑抗震设防水平可大大减轻特别是中强地震所造成的经济损失。     

城市地区抗御地震灾害风险评估项目综述

城市地区抗御地震灾害风险评估项目系联合国在上世纪末为减轻地震灾害所实施的规模宏大，影响甚远的国际性研究项目，其宗旨是为了提高社会公众防灾意识，有效地减轻城市地区的地震灾害。这一历时2年的项目在有限的经费支持下，取得了令人瞩目的成绩。结合自贡市开展这个项目的实践。综合介绍和总结了该项目的情况及经验。     

华北近十年来水平运动动态与地震活动危险区的讨论

根据华北地区1999年和2001年两期高精度GPS观测结果，通过与1992，1995，1996年和1999年这几期资料的比较，发现近两年的运动与前有所不同，主要表现为：（1）阴山单元和鄂尔多斯单元之间显示为压性运动的性质，但比较微弱，它们之间的边界带上似乎有左旋走滑运动，但从整体上看并不显著。（2）晋冀鲁单元和燕山单元的整体活动性不如以前，各单元内部存在着较明显的差异运动，并山单元和晋冀鲁单元的北部存在着比较显著的东西向挤压，北京地区则表现为南北向挤压。（3）晋冀鲁单元南部与胶辽鲁苏单元的南部的趋势活动呈张性，优势运动方向为东南，这样的结果可能表明，华北目前存在着应力扰动行为，大同与天津之间的区域是受其影响最大的地区，该区有可能成为未来几年中强地震活动的一个主体地区。     

The El Salvador earthquakes of January and February 2001: context, characteristics and implications for seismic risk

The small Central American republic of El Salvador has experienced, on average, one destructive earthquake per decade during the last hundred years. The latest events occurred on 13 January and 13 February 2001, with magnitudes M_w 7.7 and 6.6, respectively. The two events, which were of different tectonic origin, follow the patterns of the seismicity of the region although neither event has a known precedent in the earthquake catalogue in terms of size and location. The earthquakes caused damage to thousands of traditionally built houses and triggered hundreds of landslides, which were the main causes of fatalities. The earthquakes have clearly demonstrated trends of increasing seismic risk in El Salvador due to rapid population expansion in areas of high shaking and landslide hazard, exacerbated by deforestation and uncontrolled urbanisation. The institutional mechanisms required for the control of land use and building practice are very weak and present a major obstacle to risk mitigation.     

A methodology for the evaluation of long-term volcanic risk from pyroclastic flows in Campi Flegrei (Italy)

The volcanological history of Campi Flegrei suggests that the most frequent eruptions are characterized by the emplacement of pyroclastic flow and surge deposits erupted from different vents scattered over a 150-km² caldera. The evaluation of volcanic risk in volcanic fields is complex because of the lack of a central vent. To approach this problem, we subdivided the entire area of Campi Flegrei into a regular grid and evaluated the relative spatial probability of opening of vents based on geological, geophysical and geochemical data. We evaluated the volcanic risk caused by pyroclastic flows based on the formula proposed by UNESCO (1972), R=H×V×Va, where H is the hazard, V is the vulnerability and Va is the value of the elements at risk. The product H×V was obtained by performing simulations of type eruptions centered in each cell of the grid. The simulation is based on the energy cone scheme proposed by Sheridan and Malin [J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 17 (1983) 187–202], hypothesizing a column collapse height of 100 m for eruptions of VEI=3 and 300 m for eruptions of VEI=4 with a slope angle of 6°. Each simulation has been given the relative probability value associated with the corresponding cell. We made use of the GIS software ArcView 3.2 to evaluate the intersection between the energy cone and the topography. The superposition of the areas invaded by pyroclastic flows (124 simulations for VEI=3 and 37 for VEI=4) was used to obtain the relative hazard map of the area. The relative volcanic risk map is obtained by superimposing the urbanization maps.