SE RISK

Program: EU Community Initiative Programme - INTERREG III, STRAND B ARCHIMED

Axis: Integrated and Sustainable Management of Cultural and Natural Resources and of Landscape and Risk Management

Measure: Management, prevention and reduction of natural risks: drought, desertification, fires, earthquakes etc.

Goal of the Project

In the last years there has been a growing concern in the scientific community working on seismic risk regarding the need for widening the scope of risk studies, in order to achieve a better understanding not only of the physical direct damage due to earthquakes, but also of the comprehensive response of a system at different scales. Another important issue should be to improve the communication between the scientific community and the end-users: i.e., public administrations and decision makers.

Decision makers in earthquake-prone cities and prefectures need concrete figures of the possible impact of seismic events. SE-RISK aims to develop a general and modular methodology for creating earthquake-risk scenarios that concentrates on the distinctive features of Mediterranean Archipelago towns and sub-regions, including both current and historical buildings.

The project was based on seismic hazard assessment, a systematic inventory and typology of the elements at risk and an analysis of their relative value and vulnerability, in order to identify the weak points of urban and sub-regional systems. The resulting scenarios give concrete figures of direct and indirect damage of possible earthquakes. With the participation of urban council representatives, the methodology was then  applied to selected cities and prefectures from the Mediterranean Archipelago for its adaptation and validation.

Where the methodology for seismic risk assessment was implemented a GIS based prototype was developed. An important feature of this prototype was the guidance of decision makers in making risk assessment at local and sub-regional geographical scales, where different goals are pursued at each scale, and different information is also needed.

A Mediterranean Archipelago network for seismic risk reduction was created by the end of the project.
The project was financed by the CIP INTERREG III B ARCHIMED 2000-2006 and it is ERDF co-financed.

IMS-FORTH is hosting the results of the project. Any comments with respect to the material which is included in the particular page and refers to the project can be sent to the Lead Partner of the Project.

Participants

• Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Geophysics and Seismology Laboratory (Lead Partner)
• Centre for Technological Research of Crete (CTRC)
• FOUNDATION FOR RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY, HELLAS (F.O.R.T.H.) - INSTITUTE FOR MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES (I.M.S.)
• Chania Prefecture
• Heraklion Prefecture
• Prefecture of Rethymno
• National Research Council of Italy - Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis (CNR-IMAA)
• AMRA - Environmental Risk Analysis and Monitoring Limited Liability Consortium Company in short form AMRA S.c.a.r.l.
• The Geophysical Institute of Israel
• Earth Sciences and Seismic Engineering Center (ESSEC)

 

For more information visit the offical web site of the project: serisk.ims.forth.gr