ABSTRACT
In spite of the great efforts made in recent years in solving satisfactorily the
problem of building design in seismic areas, recent earthquakes are capable of
producing more damage today than ever before. Besides, a marked increase of
financial losses can be observed (Fig. 3.1), especially during the catastrophic
decade 1985-1995, marked by the Mexico City, Loma Prieta, Northridge and Kobe
earthquakes. The main reason of this remarkable increase of damage costs in
recent years is due to the concentration of population and industrialization in high
seismicity regions. The rapid and in many cases uncontrolled urbanization of
metropolitan regions contributed to the vulnerability of their communities and
infrastructure. More recent earthquakes have occurred in these regions and the
events of Izmit and Taiwan produced great disasters due to the proximity of highly
urbanized areas. These events clearly shown that the design methodologies and
code provisions are not infallible. This is true especially in cases where the
earthquake sources are near to a densely populated area.
