The chosen method explains basic principles by match-ing them with illustrations, examples, and an explana-tory text. The principles, photographs (from the authoror third parties), and the texts are the result of a longresearch and design activity in the challenging andstrongly evolving field of earthquake engineering.The author would like to thank, above all, the numer-ous photographs contributors mentioned at the end ofthe booklet, who have made available the results ofextensive and often dangerous efforts. Thanks are alsoextended to the Federal Office for Water and Geologyand the Swiss Agency for Development and Coopera-tion for editing and carefully printing this document.

Zurich, December 2002 Prof. Hugo Bachmann

Author’s Preface

For a long time earthquake risk was consideredunavoidable. It was accepted that buildings would bedamaged as a result of an earthquake’s ground shak-ing. Preventive measures for earthquakes were there-fore mostly limited to disaster management prepared-ness. Although measures related to constructionmethods had already been proposed at the beginningof the 20th century, it is only during the last decadesthat improved and intensified research has revealedhow to effectively reduce the vulnerability of structuresto earthquakes.The objective of this document is to present recentknowledge on earthquake protection measures forbuildings in a simple and easy to understand manner.

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Basic principles for engineers, architects, building owners, and authorities

Editor’s Preface

Worldwide earthquakes cause regularly large economiclosses - Kobe in 1995 with more than 6000 causalities,counted for 100 Billion US$ of economic loss. Earth-quakes are unavoidable. Reducing disaster risk is a toppriority not only for engineers and disaster managers,but also for development planners and policy-makersaround the world. Disaster and risk reduction are anessential part of sustainable development.On December 11 2000, the Swiss Federal Councilapproved for federal buildings a seven-point programrunning from 2001 to 2004 for earthquake damageprevention. The earthquake resistance of newstructures is a high priority in the Confederation’sseven-point program. The author of this publication,Professor Hugo Bachmann, has devoted many years tothe study of seismic risk and behavior of buildingssubjected to earthquakes. At the request of theFOWG, which expresses its gratitude to him, he agreedto make available his extensive scientific knowledge onearthquake resistance of buildings. These guidelinesare designed to contribute to the transfer of researchresults into building practice. These results must be

taken into account by the design professionals, thusensuring a reasonable earthquake resistance for newstructures at little or no additional cost.

SDC would like to contribute to the dissemination ofknowledge on seismic design of buildings by translat-ing this FWOG publication in English and thus extend-ing its readership among construction professionals.SDC intends to gather available experience in thedomains of construction and prevention of naturalhazards and technical risks and to make it accessible tothe practitioners in developing and transition countriesin an easy to understand form.

Biel, December 2002Dr Christian Furrer Director of the Federal Officefor Water and Geology (FOWG)

Bern, December 2002Ambassador Walter Fuest Director of the Swiss Agencyfor Development and Cooperation (SDC)