| Reducing Earthquake Losses in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (RELEMR) |
The Mediterranean region, because of its geological structure, seismicity, active tectonics, topography and climate, has been frequently subjected to natural disasters resulting in great losses of life and property. Field studies and investigations of disasters indicate that large portions of the land surface, population, infrastructure, and industry of the region have been subjected to earthquakes in the past or will be subjected to earthquakes in the future.
In the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), these earthquakes are associated with the northward movement of the Arabian plate. The 1,000 km long western boundary of the Arabian plate is a complex plate boundary, extending from zones of seafloor spreading in the Red Sea to zones of plate convergence in Turkey, and lies along the line of the Gulf of Aqaba, the Dead Sea rift, and the Ghab depression. The sense of motion along the Dead Sea transform fault system is left lateral, with the eastern side moving northward relative to the western side. Total displacement is estimated at about 107 km since Oligocene times, with an annual rate of about 0.5 cm. over the last 7 to 10 million years. In the western Mediterranean region, which includes portions of Greece, Italy, Spain and northern Africa, seismicity is widely distributed and there are many seismic hazards. Modern interpretations of this seismicity suggest the existence of seven micro-plates, with seismic activity concentrated at the micro-plate boundaries, which coincide with the Alps, Appenines, and Hellenic arc. Among the most notable recent (1996) seismic events was the M 6.8 earthquake in the historic city of Assisi in the Italian Appenines which destroyed numerous cultural artefacts, including important frescoes. UNESCO and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) launched the Reducing Earthquake Losses in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (RELEMR) programme in 1993 with the purpose of assessing, evaluating and reducing expected earthquake losses in this region. RELEMR was based on PAMERAR, a similar programme which had been developed previously in the Arab Region. On 22 November 1995, an earthquake with a magnitude of Mw 7.2 occurred in the central Gulf of Aqaba region causing damage in nearby communities in Jordan, Egypt, Israel, and Saudi Arabia and was felt over more than 700 km. The aftershock sequence lasted for over a year with numerous shocks exceeding Ms 5.0. The size of the main shock and some of the aftershocks demonstrate the threat that earthquakes pose to the region. These events occurred during RELEMR's second Joint Seismic Observing Period (JSOP-II), thanks to which the earthquake sequence was located accurately by integrating data from all of the national networks in the region. This significantly improved accuracy in epicentre and magnitude determinations. In October 1997, a workshop was hosted by the Cyprus Geological Survey Department to locate the main shock and approximately ten aftershocks. RELEMR is carried out with the European Mediterranean Seismic Centre (EMSC), it is associated with the Council of Europe through the Open Partial Agreement for Major Hazard and it is cooperating with EMR earth science organizations. Countries from the western Mediterranean region also participate in some aspects of the programme. For instance the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) coordinated the exchange of data among EMR countries; other organizations that provided notable cooperation include the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Observatories and the Research Facilities of European Seismology (ORFEUS). Future losses from earthquakes in the Eastern Mediterranean Region could be substantially reduced through the integrated implementation of: - Seismotectonic framework studies using geological, geophysical, geodetic, seismological, archaeological and historical techniques to improve understanding of the cause and nature of the seismicity; - Earthquake monitoring, through modern seismograph networks and strong-motion instrument arrays, to determine earthquake parameters and characteristics; - Assessment of earthquake hazards to estimate locations, recurrence intervals, and effects of future earthquakes; - Assessment of risks and evaluation of potential losses; - Implementation of earthquake risk reduction measures to reduce vulnerabilities and losses. Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Kuwait, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States and Yemem. The goals of RELEMR workshops are to foster data exchange among countries in the region, to conduct joint activities and experiments that would improve the quality of seismic data, to improve hazard assessments in the Mediterranean region, to improve the dissemination of earthquake engineering data, and ultimately to improve the seismic provisions of building codes in the region. - Malta, April 2006 - Seismicity and Earthquake Engineering in the Extended Mediterranean Region, Chania, Crete, Greece, 11-17 September 2005 - Workshop on Seismicity and Seismic Hazard Assessment in the Mediterranean Region, Ankara, Turkey, 26-29 January 2005 - Cooperation in Seismic Hazard Mapping of the Deadsea Rift Region, Barcelona, Spain, 19 - 21 December 2006 - "Seismicity and Earthquake Engineering in the Extended Mediterranean Region". A Joint Meeting of RELEMR (Reduction Losses in the Extended Mediterranean Region) project and the UNESCO Ibero-Maghreb Initiative. Madrid, Spain, 26 - 29 November 2007 Contact
Ms Hélene Papa, Consultant
Ms Brigitte Sartre, Assistant
Ms Kremi Nikilova, Assistant
| Start Date | 01-01-1993 |
| End Date | 31-12-2012 |