ESC Executive Committee meeting
11 July 2007, 14 h, room 9
IUGG, Perugia, Italy

 
 
 
Meeting participants: D Giardini, M Garcia-Fernandez, G Papadopoulos, J Zschau, R Hoffsteter, S Jakobsdottir, D Slejko, C Browitt, B Dost, P Suhadolc, I Cecic
 
Absent: C Eva, A Ansal
 

 
 
 
Agenda:

1. Approval of the Agenda
2. SC reports and the proceedings (MGF)
3. Budget (DG)
4. Web page (IC)
5. ESC 2008 (GP)
6. ESC representatives
7. Working Groups
8. Misc.

 
 
 
Ad 1. SJ noticed that the discussion about the new WGs is omitted from the Agenda; the mistake was immediately corrected.
 
 
Ad 2. MGF informed the audience that all SCs have sent their report. The proceedings from Geneva will be available on the ESC web page. GA proceedings will be stored on CD-Rom for the archive.
 
 
Ad 3. DG made a short overview of ESCs financial situation after Geneva meeting. There were many more participants than expected. Everything was done to lower the registration fee. The financial surplus was 113,614.61 CHF. The gains were split among Swiss Society of Engineers and ETH SED. Seismology got 56807 CHX (approx. 39000 EUR). This sum is divided equally between ETH and ESC.
PS said that the surplus was usually divided between LOC and ESC (50:50); for future meetings the loss is supposed to be covered by LOC:
IC asked whether any meeting finished with deficit. No one remembers.
GP expects that the meeting in 2008 will end up with surplus.
PS informed that there were only approx. 400 registered IASPEI participants in Perugia, that is less than expected. He also informs that the IASPEI support for the 2008 YSTC is expected to be lower than in the previous GAs.
 
 
Ad 4. IC explained a few details about the changes in ESC web page and brochure. A new domain was bought for a period of 10 years, and the address is www.esc-web.org. The files are moved from BGS servers to ARSO servers in Ljubljana. IC will take care of the web page in future. It is planned that the new design will be implemented in Autumn 2007. The changes and updates in the ESC brochure will be made at the same time. Everybody was invited to give ideas and propositions for the news at the web page.
 
 
Ad 5. GP gave some information about the forecoming ESC General Assembly in Crete:
-         there is a web page, www.esc2008.org, with some basic information; the organizational scheme will be the same as for Geneva
-         in preparation is a big poster and a flyer to advertise the meeting
-         he visited the Conference Centre and met the staff
-         it is XXXI conference of ESC
-         he asked for more detailed information about the responsibilities of the conveners and the young seismologists course
-         the publications of the conference will be abstract volume, short papers (5-6 pages) volume, both on the CD and distributed at the venue
-         the logo on the official material: ESC, IUGG and LOC
 
MGF pointed out that IASPEI is responsible for the training course.
PS said that ESC is a commission of IASPEI; e.g., on the materials from Potsdam there was only ESC logo, plus GFZ and University as local organizers. PS pointed out that on the previous conferences the sessions were taken care of by the SCs; now there are only WGs.
GP suggested an Open call for papers.
PS think its not good, better to give some suggestions about the topics.
DG proposed a compromise: to offer the possibility to each WG for a session, and the LOC proposes 3 or 4 sessions that are interesting for them; also, big European projects can have dedicated sessions.
DS suggested that as much information about the activity as possible is given, such as general guidelines, information on the next conference, general titles for the sessions (and ask for suggestions of more specific topics); he advised that the call is issued as soon as possible, by the web page and email, and asked GP more data about the venue.
GP explained that the LOC consists of NOA; a travel agent in Crete, and Conference Centre Creta Maris.The Centre is located in Herssonisos, and there are many hotels in the vicinity (10-15 minutes walk). International Scientific Committee consists of some Greek seismologists, some European experts and some non-European members.
CB suggested that the first thing to fix is the date when the abstracts should be received, and then work back in time. The proposed dates are:
-         Short papers: 15 Apr 2008
-         Abstracts: 15 May
-         Pre-registration: 1 Jun (otherwise on site)
-         Acceptance 15 Jun
CP also asked about the date of the first Bureau visit to the venue.
RH asked who will deal with the abstracts, and when should be a deadline for choosing the convenors.
MGF answered that the second circular should be distributed in March 2008.
RH suggested to do it earlier, because of the new ESC structure.
DS asked if it is possible to have the members of the International Scientific Committee by September.
DG pointed out that the members of ESC ExeCom and a few members of LOC should form a programme committee.
PS suggested that a small programme committee develops the programme and sends it to the international advisory group.
GP added that the material for the web page is ready. Besides, the first visit to the venue should be planned for October 2007, rather than November.
DS underlined the need that the first circular should contain the members of the international committee as well as the venue details and main topics.
DG went into more detail about the sessions and proposed
-         1-3 local sessions
-         WGs with their activities
-         major European projects (special sessions)
-         proposals bottom-up
-         engineering seismology proposals (as the joint sessions from Geneva were good)
If theres not enough interest for some topic, the abstracts are moved into a general session. About the titles, he suggested that the general ones are taken and a few those from Geneva are added to the list. Also, European evaluation of NERIES will be done in Crete and deserves a workshop dedicated to it.
JS suggested some joint sessions in order to put all the projects together.
CB suggested that we prepare a list of the sessions after the meeting and give it to GP.
DG said that the one who proposes the session should convene it as well. The programme should be finished before the end of the year, and the first circular (time, venue, registration etc.) should go out in September. The registration fee should not necessary be included into the first circular; it should be less than in Geneva.
 
The question of Greece not being a member of IUGG was raised. GP explained that it is expected that a new law, to be passed in the following days, would arrange a general relationship between the country and scientific bodies. Then Greece has to reapply to IUGG and nominate a new comittee. DG suggested that if the process would be too long the fees for Greece can be paid by individual institutes, because otherwise we can't have ESC conference in Greece. DG and MGF offered their help.
CB asked what to do if everything goes wrong.
PS answered that, in case that this situation is not solved before the end of 2007, we need to have a different solution. He also offered the help in the name of IASPEI.
 
MGF said that the guidelines for GA preparations exist, and that he'll send the file to everybody, and we put it also on the web page.
 
 
Ad 6. New ESC representatives to the organizations and the scientific bodies are:
-         IASPEI: Domenico Giardini, Switzerland
-         EAEE: Dario Slejko, Italy
-         EMSC: secretariat
-         ORFEUS: secretariat
-         ASC: Mariano Garcia Fernandez, Spain
MGF will contact ASC about the representatives of both commissions.
DG is the Commission Chairperson in IASPEI; the meeting about the Scientific Programme for Capetown will be on Thursday, 12 July 2007.
Next meeting of ASC will be in Tsukuba, Japan, in November 2009.
 
 
Ad 7. WG proposals
The coding for the new WG is proposed as Number-YY, where YY stands for a year in which the WG was accepted.
There were 9 applications for a prolongation and 7 new propositions.
The WGs were discussed in the order the applications were received.
 
 

DG said that he’ll contact task coordinators from NERIES and ask them to make WGs.
 
Short discussion was held about every proposal. The proposers whose entries were incomplete or need clarification will be contacted by the Secretariat and asked to send additional details. Such proposals will then be distributed and discussed by mail.
 
 
Ad 8. DG gave a short overview about some ongoing projects or calls. In October 2007 there will be a Call on harmonization of seismic hazard (HAHA); ESC & EAEE road map; bid to ESFRI; OECD initiative, Global earthquake risk model; another call on seismic vulnerability in 2009; in Crete some open reflections about what titles we want to suggest are needed.
JZ informed about FP7 Early Warning Call on 2010.
IC reported about the NATO civil exercise in Croatia in May 2007, and about the contacts she made with NATO officers in order to improve the coordination of efforts in case of an relief operation after a devastating earthquake.
DG briefly discussed the possibilities for ESC conference in 2010; Skopje (Macedonia) sent an official letter of invitation. A second offer was received from Lyon (France).
MGF pointed out that the engineers did not decide on a joint meeting yet. He will write a letter acknowledging Skopje invitation, and asking to visit the venue with EAEE, if possible before Crete 2008, to evaluate it.
DG said that ESC should evaluate the site and give their opinion to the engineers before Crete.
 
GP started to prepare a list of potential topics for Crete:
1. Seismicity of the Euro-Mediterranean Region
2. Geodynamics, Seismotectonics & Seismic Hazard in the East Mediterranean Region
3. Data Acquisition, Theory & Interpretation
4. Physics of the Earthquake Source
5. Structure of the Earths Interior
6. Earthquake Prediction Research
7. Engineering Seismology & Earthquake Engineering
8. Macroseismology: Methods, Results, Evaluation
9. Tsunamis
10. Recent Large Earthquakes Worldwide
11. Earthquake Geology
12. Rapid Intervention & Post-Event Field Surveys
13. Earthquakes, Civil Protection & Society
 
 
 
After the meeting, the official ExeCom photographs were taken by RH.

From left to right: S Jakobsdottir, D Slejko, M Garcia Fernandez, D Giardini, I Cecic, B Dost, J Zchau, R Hoffsteter
 
 
 
Perugia Ljubljana, July August 2007                                  Ina Cecic