Earthquake Prediction from the Viewpoint of Earthquake Engineering

Abstract

During the last decade there has been a considerable development and an intense activity of Earthquake Engineering all over the world. The general objective of that relatively new field of engineering is the study of the behaviour of buildings and other engineering structures (bridges: towers: reservoirs: etc.) under earthquake action. For the attainment of the above general objective, earthquake engineering follows two main directions: one towards the design of new earthquake resistant structures, and the other towards the protection and strengthening of existing structures. In following these two broad directions, earthquake engineering makes use of all available scientific knowledge that can be of help, not only from the related fields of structural and geotechnical engineering, but also from other fields like geology, geophysics and seismology. In this context, an interesting question arises whether prediction of earthquakes, a subject widely discussed at present, can be of use to earthquake engineering in its effort to achieve the above objectives.