The workshop on Seismicity and Earthquake Engineering in the Extended Mediterranean Region will be hosted by the Cyprus Geological Survey Department (GSD), and sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). 60 senior scientists in the extended Mediterranean region will participate in the workshop that will be held from 28 February to 3 March 2011 in Nicosia, Cyprus.

UNESCO and the USGS have been working with the Council of Europe, government agencies, and other organizations on a program for Reducing Earthquake Losses in the Extended Mediterranean Region (RELEMR). Thirty RELEMR meetings have been held since the first meeting in Cairo in 1993.

At these meetings participants discuss regional approaches to improve seismic data (more accurate locations and improved magnitude estimates), probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA), engineering issues (reasons for building failures), and the production of a RELEMR seismicity map. Participants already produced a ground shaking map of the Dead Sea region and training courses in PSHA, HAZUS, David Boore's Ground Shaking and other software have been given.

Sessions for general presentations on seismology, geology and earthquake engineering are on the agenda of this workshop. Among these agenda items, and for the first time this workshop will feature a special session on Tsunamis. A field trip will be organized to the southern part of Cyprus, which will illustrate the significant evidence of neotectonic activities, such as active faults, reverse stratigraphy and folding.

The workshop contributes to the improvement of knowledge focalized in the reduction of earthquake losses and serves as an opportunity to contribute to the health and safety of the millions of people in the extended Mediterranean region.

Related links:

• Proceedings (.pdf) 
• RELEMR website