IASPEI 33rd General Assembly 2005 Short Report

in Chile, 2005

This report is also available as a PDF file (33 Kbytes).

The IASPEI2005 Local Organizing Committee under the leadership of Diana Comte, the University of Chile and Instituto Geografico Militar (IGM), with the support of additional sponsors, have hosted the 33rd General Assembly of the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth ’s Interior in Santiago, Chile, from October 2 to 8, 2005. It was held in a most suitable venue, the centrally located Diego Portales Conference Centre in Santiago de Chile. There were 15 scientific symposia covering all parts of the scientific fields of IASPEI, with 220 talks given and about 200 posters shown. In addition, a large number of planning and 'business' meetings were held. 360 persons from 42 countries attended.

Two candidate venues for 2009 have been proposed: Capetown and Copenhagen. The decision on where to hold the 37th General Assembly has been though postponed to spring 2006.

The tentative IASPEI scientific program for the Perugia IUGG 2007 General Assembly was approved.

A number of Resolutions passed by the Assembly Delegates, are listed below.

A IASPEI Training School has been organized during the week following the General Assembly by the Commmission on Education and Outreach. The School was held at the Departimento de Geofisica of the University of Chile, which proved to be an excellent venue. About 20 participants from all over Latin America attended the School.

RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED

• Resolution 1 - International Active-monitoring Network

  IASPEI

  • RECOGNISING the value of cooperation between research groups undertaking active monitoring with vibrational and geoelectric sources at test sites widely distributed around the world,
  • ENCOURAGES the formation of an International Network of Active Monitoring Test Sites in order to facilitate collaborative seismic and geoelectrical studies of crustal deformation; active monitoring of seismically active zones, and exchange of technical information, data and personnel.

• Resolution 2 - Mitigation of Earthquake Risk

  IASPEI

  • RECOGNISING that earthquakes pose a severe threat to sustainable development, and that mitigation of earthquake risk requires the cooperative endeavour of the whole society, ENCOURAGES communication among seismologists, earthquake engineers, policy makers, and the public to enhance preparedness and the development of measures for the mitigation and management of earthquake risk and its consequences, and
  • RECOMMENDS that the international seismological community assist developing countries in building capacity for earthquake risk mitigation.

• Resolution 3 - Africa Array

  IASPEI

  • RECOGNISING the importance of building science capacity in developing countries
  • ENDORSES AfricaArray as a worthy initiative aimed at training African scientists and developing seismological networks and research programs in Africa, and
  • URGES the seismological community to support AfricaArray.

• Resolution 4 - Seismological Reference Model

  IASPEI

  • RECOGNISING that seismological reference model ak135 provides consistent seismic phase times and consequent benefits for phase association,
  • ENCOURAGES International Agencies to adopt model ak135 for routine event location and reporting.

• Resolution 5 - Appreciation

  IASPEI

  • RECOGNISING the enormous effort required to organise the General Assembly,

  THANKS and CONGRATULATES the Local Organising Committee and its Chair Professor Diana Comte for a successful and memorable meeting in Chile.