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MEETING OF THE ESC COUNCIL
Thursday, September 16, 2004

Present: Titular Members and Executive Committee

Agenda

1. Presence of a quorum
2. Appointment of the Election Chairperson and Tellers
3. Next ESC General Assemblies
4. Elections
5. Titular Members
6. Resolutions
7. Discussion

1. Presence of a quorum

Entitled to participate: Titular Members (39), Observers (3), and Executive Committee members (13) for a total of 52 votes.

Executive Committee: C. Eva, J. Zschau, B. Feignier, M. García-Fernández, A.B. Walker, M. Stucchi, A. Shapira, C.-I. Trifu, M. Grad, G. Papadopoulous, R. Musson, I. Cecic, A. Ansal, C. Browitt, B. Dost, P. Suhadolc (all members were present).

M García-Fernández ascertains the presence of the quorum. 38 members of the Council out of 52 were present and one observer.

2. Appointment of the Election Chairperson and Tellers

C. Browitt is proposed as Election Chairperson, Tina Larsen and Polona Zupancic as tellers. The proposal is approved.

3. Next ESC General Assemblies

At the ESC Council meeting in Genoa it was recommended that we hold a joint ESC/EAEE in Geneva in 2006. Following the approval by the EAEE at their meeting in London (also in 2002), the ESC confirms this strategy.

M García-Fernández informed the Council that a letter of invitation from the Instituto Geográfico Nacional, Spain, has been received by the ESC Bureau for the organisation of a joint SSA/ESC General Assembly in Toledo in 2008. A. Roca read the letter of invitation to the Council and outlined the situation in which the Assembly would be held, the wider environment and the historical context of the city. From the floor, G Papadopoulous commented that if the invitation from Toledo did not go ahead then he would be delighted to offer Crete as the venue for the 2008 General Assembly of the ESC, to be organised by the Institute of Geodynamics / National Observatory of Athens, jointly with academic institutions in Crete.

K. Makropoulous asked how big Toledo was and did it have the necessary facilities to accommodate such a joint meeting. A. Roca explained that Toledo had sufficient facilities to run such a conference. F. Scherbaum explained he was on the SSA Board of Directors and that he thought a joint meeting with SSA would be good for both parties. He explained that SSA was similar in size to ESC and, therefore, the number of delegates would be around 800 people. C. Browitt said that if SSA agrees at their meeting in April, then an acceptable date should be found. F. Scherbaum opened to the floor some discussion about the joint meeting. It was noted that if the American participants do not reach 50% then it wouldn’t be good for ESC. I. Cecic noted that SSA have meetings in spring and ESC in September and that she was in favour of a September meeting to avoid EGU and the summer heat. C. Browitt asked F. Scherbaum to take this back to the SSA committee. D. Giardini said that it should be advertised in advance. There being no objections to a public vote, C. Browitt asked the Council for a show of hands for a joint meeting with SSA/ESC in 2008. 37 votes in favour, 0 against, 1 abstention. F. Scherbaum will take this forward to the next meeting of the SSA Board of Directors. C. Browitt also noted that in the event that the joint meeting was not agreed with SSA for a convenient data (September being preferred), then the Greek offer would become firm but would need to compete with others proposed by the 2006 Assembly.

4. Elections

The Election Chairperson, C. Browitt asked the Nominating Committee to present the candidates for the Bureau in sequential order. He asks the Council if they have any objections to a show of hands. No objections were raised from the floor.

The President of the Nominating Committee P Suhadolc presented the candidates in sequential order.

Results of the elections:

- Bureau:

President: C. Eva was presented as candidate. No further candidates were raised from the floor. Election was carried out by show of hands. C. Eva was elected (votes: 36 yes, 0 no, 2 abs.)

Vice-Presidents: For the first of the two Vice-presidents J. Zschau was presented. No further candidates were raised from the floor. Election was carried out by show of hands. J. Zschau was elected (votes: 37 yes, 0 no, 1 abs.)

For the second of the two Vice-presidents J. Zahradnik was presented. No further candidates were raised from the floor. Election was carried out by show of hands J. Zahradnik was elected (votes: 37 yes, 0 no, 1 abs.)

Secretary General: M. García-Fernández was presented as candidate. No further candidates were raised from the floor. Election was carried out by show of hands. M García-Fernández was elected by show of hands (votes: 37 yes, 0 no, 1 abs.)

Assistant Secretary: D. Faeh was presented as candidate. No further candidates were raised from the floor. Election was carried out by show of hands. D. Faeh was elected by show of hands (votes: 38 yes, 0 no, 0 abs.)

- Subcommissions

SC-A: M. Stucchi was presented as candidate. No further candidates were raised from the floor. Election was carried out by show of hands (votes: 37 yes, 0 no, 1 abs.). M. Stucchi was elected.

SC-B: A. Shapira was presented as candidate. No further candidates were raised from the floor. Election was carried out by show of hands (votes: 37 yes, 0 no, 1 abs.). A. Shapira was elected.

SC-C: A temporary solution of electing an ESC Vice President to this position was proposed as no other candidate was presented. No further candidates were raised from the floor. Election was carried out by show of hands (votes: 23 yes, 3 no, 9 abs.). Vice President of ESC was elected on a temporary basis. (C. Trifu the outgoing Chairperson of SC-C, after having served 3 terms, explained that owing to the limited time he had available to attend the ESC meeting (one day) he has been unable to consult fully with and find a replacement for himself as chairperson. Other key people were unable to attend the SC-C meeting and, therefore, we were faced with an unusual situation. After some general discussion, it was agreed that the Council should mandate the Bureau and SC-C to fill this position and report it at the 2005 ESC Executive meeting in April next year or earlier. Until then the position would be filled by an ESC Vice president).

SC-D: M. Grad was presented as candidate. No further candidates were raised from the floor. Election was carried out by show of hands (votes: 37 yes, 0 no, 1 abs.). M. Grad was elected.

SC-E: G. Papadopoulos was presented as candidate. No further candidates were raised from the floor. Election was carried out by show of hands (votes: 32 yes, 0 no, 3 abs.). G. Papadopoulos was elected.

SC-F: R.M.W. Musson was presented as candidate. No further candidates were raised from the floor. Election was carried out by show of hands (votes: 35 yes, 0 no, 1 abs.). R. M.W. Musson was elected.

SC-G: I. Cecic was presented as candidate. No further candidates were raised from the floor. Election was carried out by show of hands (votes: 36 yes, 0 no, 1 abs.). I. Cecic was elected.
The SC chairpersons reported the changes in their Bureau and Working Groups. These changes are to be found in the SC Activity Reports.

5. Titular Members

The Bureau then proposes the confirmation of Titular Members appointed by their respective countries. M García-Fernández reports that he has received official letters of appointment for Titular Members of Albania (E. Sulstarova), Bulgaria (D. Solakov), Egypt (Y.S. El-Hadidy), Israel (R. Hoffstetter), Macedonia FYR (L. Pekevski), The Netherlands (H. Haak), Sweden (R. Roberts), and Turkey (B. Tuzel). M García-Fernández reads the names of the proposed Titular members and points out to the Council the newly appointed ones. The Council, unanimously, approves the following list of Titular Members for the Administrative period 2004-2006:

TITULAR MEMBERS 2004 - 2006

6. Resolutions

Each resolution, as obtained from the Resolution Committee, is presented by B Dost. With minor amendments the following resolutions have been adopted:

Site Response

Considering

the importance of the theoretical basis for the empirical methods in use in determining site response as part of assessing seismic hazard of urban and other areas,

the ESC recommends

to further develop the underlying theories.

Data Preservation

Considering

the importance to preserve European historical seismograms and seismological documents,

the ESC recommends

all European seismological institutions and the European Union to make every effort to save these original and unique materials.

Regionalisation

Recognizing

The practical importance of the Seismogeographical Regionalisation initiated at the Athens ESC general assembly in 1994 which has not yet been completed,

the ESC urges

member countries to complete their third level regionalisation in order that this work can be published and become a standard.

Macroseismology

Recognizing

that significant progress was made in the field of macroseismology in the 1990s, particularly the EMS-98 scale, and that despite this progress, a complete and comprehensive textbook on this subject is not available,

the ESC recommends

that an inclusive monograph on all aspects of macroseismology be compiled, and encourages the Working Groups involved in Macroseismology to prepare this monograph.

Seismic Safety

Recognizing

the importance of earthquake risk assessment and mitigation in both developed and developing countries

Considering

the invitation to ESC, by GeoHazards International and the Seismological Society of America, to participate in a meeting in April 2005 in Reno, Nevada, USA, to discuss the possible creation of an international earthquake safety advocacy federation, in order to raise awareness and reduce impacts of earthquakes worldwide

The ESC Recommends

that initiatives to advocate seismic safety be supported by all practical means;
that the Council accepts the above invitation and mandates the Bureau to nominate a representative to attend the Reno meeting on behalf of ESC

Thanks

Acknowledging

the hard work and warm welcome of the Local Organising Committee in arranging the XXIX General Assembly of the ESC in Potsdam, and noting the success of the sessions, and fruitful outcomes of many meetings and debates, the ESC Council

Thanks

the LOC for all their efforts and expertise in organising such a successful occasion in all respects.
the lecturers for conducting a most successful YSTC which received a record number of applicants (97).

7. Discussion

M García-Fernández reported that the YSTC training course on ‘Moment Tensor Inversion - a practical for beginners’, was a great success with over 97 applicants, and in attendance, 30 students from 20 countries. The ESC thanked the organisers and lecturers, Torsten Dahm, Frank Krüger, Klaus Stammler, and Xiaohui Yuan, for their efforts, and also IASPEI for the funding provided to the participants.

M. García-Fernández reported the final figures for participation in the 29th General Assembly. There were 519 participants from 50 countries, with the largest delegations from Italy (111), Germany (100), and Russia (36).

M García-Fernández presented the ESC brochure and explained that it would be updated every two years to reflect any changes, and that it would be a useful document for Titular Members and others to use to promote the ESC.

M García-Fernández presented the action from the ESC Council minutes in Genoa “the Bureau will find a way to pursue…. a proposal that ESC conducts an assessment of its mandate and procedures together with a vision for the future” In response to this M García-Fernández presented the following to the Council.

The Bureau reports that progress has been made on several fronts which were highlighted in the proposal, e.g.:

• Extending cross-disciplinary opportunities has been partly addressed through the planning of a joint meeting in Geneva with EAEE, and bringing forward others for consideration (SSA, ASC). There is a need to agree the desirable frequency of joint meetings.

• EMSC and ESC have been successful in extending the geographical coverage of contributors and bringing them into the ESC community.

• Engagement and participation of students through the Young Seismologists Training Course has been increasingly successful: 97 applicants and positive feedback in Potsdam (30 students from 20 countries). Better satisfying the demand is an issue which might be addressed by repeating earlier training courses in parallel.

To complete the action:

The Executive Committee has nominated a group comprising Avi Shapira, Max Stucchi, Gerassimos Papadopoulos, Mariano García-Fernández, plus an ESC Vice President to review and make recommendations on progress in-hand (above) and to specifically address the following issues:

• Further encouragement of cross-disciplinary initiatives (inside or outside of the Subcommission structure)

• Progress ESC/ASC collaboration

• Review and improve attractiveness of ESC

• Brainstorm ideas, particularly relating to ESC’s involvement with the EC

• Within a review of the existing mandate, structures, procedures and statutes, develop a forward look and vision for the future evolution of ESC

Following discussion and consultation with Titular Members and the Executive, a report will be prepared within the next year with an interim review in Vienna.

M. García-Fernández invited comments. M. Stucchi said that the committee should comprise younger people and that his views were too far away from the objectives of the committee. He strongly recommended that all the ESC community should be approached, especially the younger people. He suggested that D. Slejko replaces him on the committee. G. Papadopoulous thought it inappropriate to suggest D. Slejko as he was not in attendance and, therefore, his views were not known; he was, therefore, against this suggestion. I. Cecic asked which Vice President would be on the committee and C. Browitt said that it was up to the Bureau to decide this. It was agreed that the findings of the committee should be posted on the web-site. Following discussion, the Council unanimously approved the formation of the committee and the replacement of M. Stucchi for D. Slejko.

C. Eva warmly thanked A. Walker and B. Feignier for their contributions and efforts over the years.

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European
Seismological
Commission

Minutes of ESC Business Meetings, Potsdam 2004