Earthquake Risk Analysis and Management

The awareness on the threat to society represented by the seismic risk is increasing due to several reasons. The impact of several destructive earthquakes having occurred during the last decades has made people more sensitive to this issue. The activities conducted worldwide under the auspices of IDNDR (International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction) and WSSI (World Seismic Safety Initiative) contributed considerably to this too. Direct experience showed how high the toll of human lives can be, especially in less developed countries (Tangshan, 1976), but also that the most advanced and best protected countries of our time still have much to do in order to avoid heavy losses (Northridge, 1994, Kobe, 1995).