Moss ENGINEERING-ACAPULCO, MEXICO, JUNE 1996 P 11THWORLD CONFERENCE ON EARTHQUAKE

11THWORLD CONFERENCE ON EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING-ACAPULCO, MEXICO, JUNE 1996

P J Moss

¹

INTRODUCTION

The 11th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering held in Acapulco, Mexico from Monday June 24 to Friday June 29 will be remembered as an extremely successful conference by the 1500 or so who attended - including about 20 from New Zealand. From a technical and an organisational point of view the conference was a credit to the organising committee and those of us who were participants are grateful to all who assisted in making it such an undoubted success. The conference was hosted by the Mexican Society for Earthquake Engineering on behalf of the International Association for Earthquake Engineering. Those of us from New Zealand were proud to have "our" Tom Paulay at the conference as President of the International Association and to see the great esteem and high regard that he was held in worldwide.

The scale and diversity of the conference were highlighted by the 192 page Final Program containing all the conference details. There were 157 oral presentations and 1115 poster presentations. Up to eight concurrent sessions were required for the oral presentations and the poster presentations were spread over five days.

The conference schedule is shown in Figure 1. Following the Opening Ceremony on the Monday morning, Tom Paulay kicked off the conference sessions with an excellent Keynote Lecture. On the Friday afternoon, the conference concluded with a Keynote Lecture by Oscar de Buen, a noted Mexican structural engineer. This was followed by the Closing Ceremony which marked the end of a very enjoyable conference. In between these lectures, the daily schedule outlined in Figure 2 provided plenty·of interest, so much so that it made for difficult choices when one would have liked to attend most, if not all, of the concurrent presentations each day!

TECHNICAL PROGRAM

The technical program was organised into two principal groups of activities: the main Technical Program and the Complementary Technical Program. The former consisted of the two Keynote Lectures, State-of-the-Art Reports, Poster Presentations, and Oral Presentations of specially selected papers. These latter papers were selected because they were considered to be of general interest, because they dealt with new problems or presented new approaches in earthquake engineering, or because they contained especially significant results. The Complementary Technical Program included

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Canterbury (Fellow)

Seminars and Special Theme Sessions, organised m a panel format.

Keynote Addresses

In his excellent Keynote Lecture on the topic of Seismic Design of Concrete Structures. The Present Needs of Societies, Tom Paulay addressed his remarks primarily to design practitioners in order to promote the transfer of existing knowledge of the seismic design of engineering structures and thereby contribute to more effective disaster mitigation. In order to bring this about, Tom advocated the application of a rational deterministic design philosophy such as has been used successfully in New Zealand for a number of years. Following a critical review of common misconceptions, the principles of a design philosophy were presented covering the basic aims, the role of ductility, and the main issues involved in this design strategy.

The application of what has become known as capacity design philosophy was described in some detail. The method was illustrated by showing the major design steps relevant to ductile multi-storey reinforced concrete framed buildings as well as those in which lateral force resistance is provided by walls or combinations of frames and walls. The modifications needed when considering elastic response and limited ductility demands, and features such as diaphragm action and the effects of the elongation of inelastic flexural members which are not embodied in present codes were all discussed.

The presentation concluded with an appeal for the recognition of the importance of high quality in the detailing for construction of those parts of the structure where inelastic deformations are to be expected in the event of a major earthquake. Torn Paulay gave numerous examples covering beams, columns and structural walls. Shear strength, curvature ductility capacity, confinement of compressed concrete, anchorage of reinforcement, lapped splices, and beam-column joints were all illustrated. Throughout the lecture, Torn sought to show that the judicious detailing of potential plastic hinge regions whereby tolerant structural response could be imparted with respect to crudely predicted ductility demands is a design activity which is at least as important as the analytical work.

Figure 3 shows Torn just after his lecture.

The Keynote Lecture on Earthquake Resistant Design: A View from the Practice that concluded the conference sessions was given by Oscar de Buen, a noted Mexican structural engineer who is an Emeritus Professor in the School of Engineering at the Autonomous University of Mexico and General Director of a firm of consulting engineers. He described the main stages of the design process for structures that will be built in seismic regions and discussed the differences to conventional design.

Emphasis was given to the importance of all the members of the

BULLETIN OF THE NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING, Vol. 30, No. 1, March 1997

52

8:00 9 00 l000

11 :00 ^- - 12:00 ^- - 13:00 ^- - 14:00 ^-

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- 17:00 -

18:00 ^- 19:00 ^- 20:00 21 :00 ^-

-

22:00 ^- 23:00

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SUNDAY, JUNE 23

Registration at Centro Acapulco

Registration at Conference

hotels

Welcome Party at Conference Holels

WEDNESDAY, .JUNE 26 Registration at Centro Acapulco

until 17:00 h State-of-the-Art Lectures SoA

Oral All!JS Special

Seminar Theme

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MONDAY, JUNE 24 Registration at Centro Acapulco and at Conference hotels from 7:00 h to 17:00 h

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Keynote Lecture K-1 .-..

Tcatro Juan Ruiz de Alarcon ' "

Coffee Break (Sal6n Cholula) Poster Session P-1

Salon Chichen-ltza (l 130 - 13 30)

Lunch Sal6n Teotihuacan

(13:00- 14:30)

TllESDA Y, JUNE 25 Registration at Centro Acapulco

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Sessions 0

Emilio Rosenhlucth

Seminar Part I Poster Session 1'-2

Salon Chichcn-ltza

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FIGURE 1 Conference schedule

I -18:00

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I -19:00

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I -20:00

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I -21 :00

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I -22:00

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23:00

FRIDAY, JUNE 28 Registration at Centro Acapulco

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until 14:00 h Statc-uf-thc-Art Lectures SoA

8 00 9:00 Oral Julio Sr.ecial ~

Borges ¹ heme Sessions Seminar Sessions

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0 STS ^{f -}

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Salon Chichen-ltzn 12:00

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(1130 - 13 30)

-- - - f..-13:00 Lunch

Sal6n Teotihuacan ^{f -} (13:00 · 15:00) I-

14:00 Keynote Lecture K-2

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Opening Cct·emony

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Tcatro Juan Ruiz UL· J\larcll11 10 00

Keynote Lecture K-1

0

Teatro Jwm Ruiz de Alnrc6n

11 :00 Seismic Design of Concrete Strnctm·cs. The Present Needs of Societies; J homos !'011/ay Coffee Break

Sal6n Cholula

I I.JO

12:00

Poster Session P-1 _J. STRUCTUHAL '.\IATEHIALS, ELEi\lEi\'TS ..\Nil SYSTF.:\1S.

- Salon Chichcn-ltza Fxperime11!1t/ /h i1111r111r:s 011.I h1c1(1l1L'S

(1130-1330) 5. ACTl\'E 1\ND PASSl\'t CO~THOL OF SfKUCTllllAL RESPONSE_/'u(~in·

I. ENGINEER I NC. SF:ISMOLOGY.Seismicily ( iro1111d Alotion (Records and ('ontm1' ( lr:11cra{ ( '011cept~ in l\1s,·i, c ( '011frol. Sl'irmic /so/(ltir!II, /'111h!d-.\/t11,1 lh1m11c1s ,\ /odd~ . /) Seismic lla:ard ond Ri.r;k A,w~rs;_~_- Seismic Huwrd A11alpi.1. 6. SPECL\L STR1fCTURES AND S\'STE,\1S.Furlh Struct11rec l·.urth /J.1111.1 wrd

13:00

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1:, :rn Lunch

Sal6n Teotihuacan

14:00 - (13 00 - 14:30)

15:00 ^- Oral Session Oral Session Oral Session Oral Session Special Theme Special Theme Special Theme Special Theme

0-1 0-2 0-3 0-4 Session Session Session Session

Topic I Topic 3 Topic 4 Topics 3,4,S STS-1 STS-2 STS-3 STS-4

16:00 ^{- --- - - - - - --- ------ ---- --- ----·}

Coffee Break

16 JO - Salon Ch()lula

17:00

Seismicitv Experimental Foundation Seismic_ Des111

- Ground Moii'on Techniques, Response and Criteria an Low Scismicitv I lozard Concrete NortlHidfL' and Site Effects Precast Concrete, Soi Structw~ Probabilistic Regions · Scenarios Dams Eanhqua ·e

l Composite Interaction Methods

San Francisco Tokyo-Kyoto AllCKlan!l -Wcllin[!tun Santiago Rome ^:'-,c11-Delhi lstanhul \lad rid

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Topics 1,4 Topics 3,6 Seminar _{STS-5 STS-6 STS-7 STS-8}

St:isrnicilv FRS _Green's European Code Design or Dcs:.ign nl

11:00- ^Ground r·vto-11011 L1rth Structures Func1i1,11::. ])e\'elnp1m:11l U1idgcs Steel ha11h:-;

and Site Lffects and Darns Part I ^P~1rt I Part I

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Sal6n Teotihuacan (1300 - 14:30)

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16 -10

Passive Control 17:00- and Encrg)

Dissipation

Oral Session 0-8 Topic 8

Seismic Codl's and Standards

Emilio Roscnblucth

Seminar --- ---

Special Theme Srccial Theme Special Theme Special Theme

Session Session Session Session

STS-9 STS-6 STS-10 STS-8

Coffee Break Sal6n Cholula

ms

Pan ll

Gcotcchnical Lessons·

Norillridgc-Kobc

European Code Development

Par I II

FIGURE 2 Daily schedule - Monday and Tuesday

l\1ajor Steel

llridges

Dcsiti:n of Steel r':"rnrncs

Part II

54

San Francisco Tokyo-Kyoto • Aucklaml -

Santiago Rome New Delhi Istanbul Madrid

0

Welline.ton 9:00

9:30

10:00

I 1:00

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12:00 -

-

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Matc-ol-tltc-Art Stalc-or-rhe-Arl

SoA-5: SoA-6:

Architectural Asoccls Concrclc Structures

Oral Session _0-9 Oral Session _0-10 Oral Session _0-ll AIBIS Seminar Topic 3 Topic 6 Topics 6,7,10

Architectural

Reinforced Secondary Heritage,

Concrclc and Systems Hazard and Part I

Masn111y Socioeco11omic

Issues Poster Session l'-3

Salon Chichcn-ltzn (1130-13:30)

I. ENGINEERING Sl::ISI\101.0GY. Chmmcl l-du1i1m {Ueconh and Models - II)

!'ito1e-ot-1he-Arl ~lale-ol-the-Arl :st11te-ot-lhe-Arl

SoA-7: Grounr1 SoA-8: SoA-9:

ShakinJ.: Scenarios Structural Control Ucsi~n Criteria

Special Theme Special Theme Special Theme

·Session Session Session

STS-11 STS-12 STS-13

Control of

Site Effects Seismic Design Part I Response Criteria Part I Part I

~. ACTIVE AND PASSI VI:: CONTROL OF STRUCTURAL H..tSPONSE.J-.:xpL'rh:'lll't'S nfStmcf11raf Conrrof. Acli•·e ('011/rol.

7. EXTENDED SYSTEMS. l/rhcm Systems

8. STRUCTURAL Ul:::SJGN CRITERIA ,\ND METHODS. SJ!i.rn,ic Codt's and S1amkml.1. A1chilec111ral lJesiK!I IO Re::,.isr l-:.ar1hq11akl!s.

J. STRUCTURAL MATERIALS, ELEMENTS ANU S"\'STEMS.Neu•i\faterials 9. SEISMIC [VALUATION ANO REIIABlLITATION OF STRUCTURES . . Seismic

13:00 ('rmcrcre.

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Sal6n Teotihuacan

14:00 - ^{(13:00 -14:30)}

J,UO

15:00 - Oral Session Oral Session 0ml Session AIBIS Special Theme Special Theme Srecial Theme

0-12 0-13 0-14 Seminar Session Session Session

- Topic 2 Topics 6,9 Topics 1,9 STS-11 STS-12 STS-13

16:00

--

^{------ ---- -- ---} -Coffee

Brea_k _____

--- --- --- --- Salon Cholula

16 JO -· ^{-- ---· --- ---- -·--- -- ----}

17:00

Hazard, Risk Control of _Design

,- Foundations Soils and Ri.:habi!itation of Structures Analysis and Seismic Part II Site Effecls Part lI Response Seismic Criteria Part II

Assessment Part II

9:0

San Francisco Tokyo-Kyoto Auckland -We Hine.ton Santiago Rome New Uelhi Istanbul Madrid

0

0 ~tale-01-tne-Art ~tl'lte-oMne-J\rt ~late-or-tne-t'\.rl ::,lflle-oHnc-Art ~tate-ot-tne-Art

SoA-10: SoA-11: SoA-12: SoA-13: SoA-14: Rehabi!ita-

91 0 Lifelines Torsion Safe Communities Sernnd<1rv Stnict tion ofDuildinRs

Oral Session O.-al Session Oral Ses'sion Umemura- Special Theme Special Theme Special Theme Special Theme

10:00

,_

_0-15 0-16 0-17 Kubo Session Session Session Session

Topic 5 Topic 5 Topics 6,7,10 Seminar STS-14 STS-15 STS-16 STS-17

11:0

Active Control Passive Control: Lifelines, UKS foundation and Rehabilitation

0- of Structural Seismic Isolation Nuclear Power Soil-Structure Nonstructural Test Sites ofHuildings

Response Plants and Tanks Part I Interaction Components

Part I Part I

12:00

13:0

0 t'oster ~ess10n t'-4 ^5, ACTIVE AND PASSIVF, CONTROL OF STRUCTURAL RESPONSE. Passive

Salon Chichen-ltza Cowrol: l?ehabilitution o/Struclures

,-

(1130- 13 30) ^6, SPECIAL STRUCTURES AND SYSTEMS. Secondary Sysiems and /Jui/ding 2. SOILS AND FOUNDATIONS. Crmmd lmprm·emenr. Furmdu1ion Capacirr Hquipmenl. O_ff-slwre ,\'tn1ct11res. Special S1nict11rcs.

and /'ermanenl Displaccmenl!i. · 7. EXTENDED SYSTEMS. Lifelines: Farthqiwke Damage, Hcsponse Anal rs is and

4. STRl_JCT~RAL RESPONSE. An<1/ysis o_(Structures and System Design, Risk Aue.ument. ·

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Sa16n Teotihuacan

14:00

,_

(13:00- 14:30)

10 0

15:00 ,_ Oral Session Oral Session Oral Session Umemura- Special Theme Special Theme Special Theme Special Theme

0-18 0-19 0-20 Kubo Session Session Session Session

Topic 3 Topics 3,4 Topic 8 Seminar STS-14 STS-18 STS-19 STS-17

16:00 ^{,_ --}

Coffee

Briiak -

^--- - - - - ---- ----· --- 16:3 0 --- ------ --- ---Sa16n Cholula ______________ --- --- --- -- --- ---

17:0 UKS foundation and

Rehabilitation 0- Steel Members Analysis of Reliability Soil-Structure Ouilding

and Joints Structures Based Design Interaction Pounding Lifelines of Buildings

Part II Part 11 Part II

FIGURE 2 (cont.) Daily schedule - Wednesday and Thursday

9 00

<J.JU

10:00 -

11 00 - 11 JO

12:00 -

13:00 -

13.30

14:00 -

15:00

16:00

17:00

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Jdent1f1c;;1ion Seismic Analvsi~ t-l;isnnr Structures Soci;il ,.\~ 1cc1~

Oral Session Oral Session Julio Special Theme Special Theme Special Theme Special Theme

0-21 0-22 Session Session Session Session

Topic I Topic 6 ^{Borges STS-20 STS-21 STS-22 STS-23}

Seminar

Ground Motion, Bridge European Earl\ I !istoric

Site Hlects and Mocroscism1c Rcconstruction

Microzonation Structures JBS

Scale \Varn111g ll11ildings

Poster Session l'-5 4. STRllCTllRAL RrSPClNSL A11u(1.,1, u/ So tt( r111t'\ /1/r-11!1(,1 Ul!IIII J.1,·ld

Salon Chichen-ltza

(1130- I 3 30) Uhserl'(1/wn1 und !~11wn111/'11lril S1nd1c•.1 /'111h11hi!i.1!1L

6. SPECIAL STfH)CTl!HES A!\D SYSTEMS. :lnli1trL1111,i/ Jfrn1,1,,z1•

1. ENG1NF.F.RlNG S£1S1\10LOG\'.(inm11dMotio11 (Record1·and,\fode/.1 -If!) 8. STRUCTtlHAI, {)[SIGN CRrn:RIA ,\ND i\1E f"IIODS. /(dl/lhilir_r !rus-t·d !Je.1ip1 2. SOILS AND FOUNDATIONS. J>rohflhili1y Mdhnrlf, .\)¹.t/t111 !&11tifirn1io11 10. F:Xn:HIF:NCES DERIVED FROM IU:CtN·I L\RTIIQUAKF:S.J/L'lwl'lnr r'.f 3. STHUCfUR,\L MATERIALS, ELF'.MF.NTS AND SYSTE!\lS.A/a.rn111; ,\·fw1-A!c1de and Nal//r(I/ Sp(w11_1 Suciocnmoml( /.l.111e1·

_ l'!l'nVi/ (_'m•~·~l'l_e. _('omposilL'.I.

--

Lunch Sal6n Teotihuacan

(1300-1500)

Kev note Lee tu re K-2 () Tcatfo hmn Ruiz r.k ;\lcuc6n

Earthquake Resistant Design:,-\ View from the Practice; Oscar de /i11en Closing Ceremony ()

TL;ltro Juan Ruiz de /\larc6n

FIGURE 2 (cont.) Daily schedule - Friday

FIGURE 3 IAEE President Tom Paulay and Ruaumoko, Acapulco 24 June 1996, immediately following his keynote lecture to the Opening Plenary Session [Photo: David Hopkins]

56

multi-disciplinary team that is necessary in the design and construction process. This was followed by comment on the methods used for seismic analysis and design and outlined their limitations. The importance of observation and study of building behaviour during strong earthquakes on the development of contemporary building codes was outlined, with the Mexico City Building Code being taken as an example. The 1994 Northridge earthquake was used to show the uncertainties of the available analysis and design methods. Finally, Oscar De Buen suggested several points that would improve the design and construction of buildings in seismic areas.

Poster Presentations

General reaction to the poster sessions was favourable. The sessions were well laid out and exceptionally well organised.

Maps of the location of each poster were available each day and each poster position was clearly labelled with the paper reference number. Materials for setting up were readily available. The open format provided plenty of opportunity to talk with presenters and other conference participants. Each position was well screened from adjacent ones. It was however, unfortunate that not all listed poster papers were presented.

The main topics of the concurrent poster or oral sessions were:

1. Engineering Seismology (261 papers).

2. Soils and Foundations (71 papers).

3. Structural Materials, Elements and Systems (196 papers).

4. Structural Response (201 papers).

5. Active and Passive Control of Structural Response (148 papers).

6. Special Structures and Systems (153 papers).

7. Extended Systems (26 papers).

8. Structural Design Criteria and Methods (79 papers).

9. Seismic Evaluation And Rehabilitation of Structures (82 papers).

10. Experience Derived from Recent Earthquakes (55 papers).

State-of-the-Art Sessions

Each morning began with a brief half hour session devoted tofour or five State-of-the-art reports. These were prepared by distinguished specialists in each selected theme and covered the following topics:

• Architectural aspects of seismic resistant design.

• System identification methods applied to measured seismic response.

• State-of-the-Art report on: design criteria.

• Accidental and natural torsion in the earthquake response and design of buildings.

• On the use of engineering seismology tools in ground shaking scenarios.

• Seismic evaluation of existing buildings: state of the practice.

• Structural control research issues arising out of the Northridge and Kobe earthquakes.

• Seismic analysis and design: current practice and future trends.

• Advances in seismology with impact on seismic hazard estimation.

• Recent advances in earthquake-resistant design of masonry buildings: European perspective.

• Earthquake resistant design of secondary structures: a report on the state of the art.

• Developing seismic resistant communities: creating safe communities for safe buildings - lessons for local governments.

• Advances in earthquake-resistant design of concrete structures.

• Lessons learned for lifeline engineering from major urban earthquakes.

• Soil dynamics.

• Seismic analysis of bridges.

• State of the art in techniques for rehabilitation of buildings.

• Social aspects of earthquake research.

Seminars

These were:

• Emilio Rosenblueth Seminar, on the Future of Earthquake Engineering, organised by the Steering Committee in honour of the late Prof. Rosenblueth.

• Association Iberoamericana de Ingenieria Sismica Seminar on Seismic HAzard and Code Harmonisation in IberoAmerican Countries .

• Hajime Uememura and Keizaburo Kubo Seminar on the 1995 Great Hanshin (Kobe) Earthquake in honour of the late Profs Umemura and Kubo.

• Julio F Borges Seminar organised to honour the late Prof.

Borges.

Special Theme Sessions

The papers for these sessions were presented orally with the sessions being held in parallel with the standard oral presentation sessions. These sessions consisted of presentations and discussion by invited lecturers and panelists. The topics were:

• Seismic hazard assessment and design criteria in low- seismicity regions.

• Development of earthquake hazard scenarios.

• The January 1994 N orthridge Earthquake.

• Use of empirical Green's functions - m earthquake engineering.

• European research activity in support of code development.

• Seismic design of bridges.

• Seismic design of steel frames.

• Geotechnical lessons learned from Northridge and Kobe earthquakes.

• Seismic performance and retrofit of major steel bridges.

• Site effects.

• Control of seismic response of structures.

• Seismic design criteria.

• Foundation design and soil-structure interaction.

• Seismic performance of nonstructural components.

• Test sites.

• Rehabilitation of buildings.

• Building pounding problem.

• Lifeline earthquake engineering.

• European macroseismic scale (EMS-92): innovations and applications.

• Early warning and rapid response.

• Structural safety and protection of historic buildings m seismic areas.

• After-earthquake reconstruction.

Conference Proceedings

All the papers accepted for the conference have been published in the Conference Proceedings. For the first time in World Conferences on Earthquake Engineering, the Proceedings comprise one volume of extended abstracts printed on paper and a set of four CD-ROMs. The volume of abstracts, at 1500 pages, contains the abstracts of the Keynote Lectures, State-of- the-Art Reports, Oral and Poster Sessions, Seminars and Special Theme Sessions. The CDs contain over 11,000 manuscript pages and feature search capabilities of titles, authors' affiliation, and keynotes. They include the complete text of all papers presented at the Conference. The Volume of Abstracts serves as a reference to the papers on the CDs. The CD-ROMs contain the software necessary to operate under either the Windows (3 .1 and 95) or Mac environments.

The CDs were to have been given to participants at Registration, but this did not tum out to be possible but have since been mailed out to participants. Nevertheless, several sets of the Volume of Abstracts and CDs were available at the Conference so that participants could peruse the Proceedings.

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

Those conference participants who arrived on the Saturday in order to acclimatise(!?) before the conference began, were able to spend a leisurely Sunday looking around Acapulco with its historic areas, such as the old Fort, its Spanish architecture and the open-air markets and its beaches.

The weather was very pleasant for the duration of the conference but the heat and humidity during the day meant that we were grateful for air-conditioned buildings' No earthquakes occurred during the conference (!) but the night after the conference concluded, a hurricane some distance away caused Acapulco to be buffeted by very strong winds and torrential rain. The resulting flooding around Acapulco made it difficult to reach the airport on the Saturday and further helped to make our stay in Acapulco memorable!

While registration could be carried out at the Centro Acapulco (the conference venue), this could also be carried out at the Conference hotels on the Saturday evening and the Sunday before the conference started. This was most welcome with all conference materials being available 11t the hotel. Free handouts included an excellent satchel for participants, together with pen, pad, final program (192 pages!), and a bag for accompanying persons. On the Sunday evening there was a short Welcome Party at each of the Conference hotels.

The conference Welcome Reception was held on the South Terrace which gave a splendid view over the gardens of the Centro Acapulco, such as shown in Figure 4, while nearby was the magnificent sculpture shown in Figure 5.

The late morning break coincided with the start of the poster sessions and coffee, tea and mineral water were available near the poster displays. This helped to avoid any queues forming as participants could look at some of the posters and question their authors instead.

The afternoon break provided more opportunity to look at the posters or to meet up with other participants.

Buffet lunches were served in the vast Salon Teocihuacan. The lunch break overlapped with the poster sessions and after th.:

first day or so, participants made use of this to avoid the build- up of lengthy queues. Any queues that did form served to enable one to meet new people or catch up with old friends.

The Mexican party on the Wednesday evening was fantastic, informal, and well organised. Entertainment went on non-stop for over three hours, and tequila and other liquid refreshments flowed on a hot and humid evening. Each person was welcomed with a souvenir tequila flask and a Mexican bandanna.

The Conference dinner on the Thursday evening was held in the Salon Teotihuacan which, as a single venue seating over 1500 people would be hard to match. The service of food and wine was good. The live entertainment was also good but somewhat distant from many diners. Some important presentations and speeches were made during the dinner - unfortunately the noise of tropical rain on the roof at one stage drowned out speeches and music.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF DELEGATES The IAEE General Assembly of (National) Delegates was held on the Thursday afternoon with business largely confined to formal reports and elections. Dr David Hopkins - who is the National Delegate for New Zealand - in a report to the NZNSEE Management Committee, reported that the highlights of the General Assembly were:

• Acceptance of Nepal, etc, as new members

• The election of Prof Bob Park as a Director of IAEE for another term

• Some changes were made to the Statutes, including the introduction of the office of Immediate Past President (Prof Tom Paulay)

• The election of Prof Sheldon Cherry of Canada as the new IAEE President

• Some concerns over the operation of the World Seismic Safety Initiative

• The selection of the host country for the next (12th) World Conference (see item below).

12WCEE

Members may or may not be aware that the Society submitted a bid to the IAEE to host the next World Conference in Auckland late January/early February 2000. The preparatory committee convened by Barry Davidson did a good job of preparing our case. A letter was sent to all National Delegates in April, followed by the Bid to Host document in May. This provided the essential information about our bid. At the Conference, Richard Buchanan of Convention Management brought a display on NZ including a video. He manned this display for four days and encouraged support for our case to hold the next WCEE (judging by the interest shown in the display, many participants would like to take an opportunity to visit NZ'). Indonesia also mounted a bid to host the next conference. The outcome was that New Zealand was chosen to host the 12th WCEE in Auckland in from 29 January to 5 February 2000.

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FIGURE 4 A view from the South Terrace of the Centro Acapulco looking towards the main entrance to the grounds [Photo: Peter Moss]

FIGURE 5 A large two storey high sculpture in the main lobby of the Centro Acapulco [Photo: Peter Moss]

In acknowledging our selection, David Hopkins promised a balanced conference which reflected the status of earthquake risk throughout the world, mentioning particularly non-engineered buildings in less developed countries. At the closing ceremony, David, as our National Delegate, was asked to give an invitation to the delegates to come to Auckland in 2000. His invitation to attend 12WCEE in Auckland, January 2000 was:

Chairman, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is an exciting experience to be selected to host the next World Conference.

It is also a humbling experience and a daunting one, especially when we have experienced such an exceptionally well run, technically stimulating, and enjoyable JlWCEE in Acapulco over the last week.

Nevertheless, we have great pleasure in inviting you and your colleagues, and accompanying persons, to Auckland in 2000.

We will aim to achieve an appropriate balance between research, design, and implementation, and to reflect the wide range of risks facing earthquake-prone communities in all parts of the world.

We guarantee you a unique South Pacific experience and hope that you will start planning to be there, and encouraging your colleagues and accompanying persons to do the same.

We look forward to hosting you all in Aotearoa-New Zealand, the land of Ruaumoko, the Maori God of Earthquakes.

Planning for 12WCEE in 2000 has already begun with a steering committee set up to make recommendations to the Management Committee. The Steering Committee could in time form the nucleus of the Organising Committee charged with planning and running the 12WCEE. We will hear more about the details as time goes on but for the meantime - plan to be there, think about contributing a paper or papers, and be prepared to help with the organisation of the conference in whatever ways you can.

ACKOWLEDGEMENTS

The author is grateful to Dr David Hopkins, New Zealand National Delegate to the IAEE, for his helpful comments.

APPENDIX 1

Those from New Zealand who attended the 11 WCEE included (E. & O.E.):

Darrin Bell Ian Billings Barry Davidson Kim Douglas David Dowrick Richard Fenwick David Hopkins Jason Ingham Andrew King Stephen Marks Nathan McKenzie Graeme Mc Verry Les Megget Peter Moss Bob Park Tom Paulay Mick Pender Jose Restrepo Pranjoto Satyawan I van Skinner