CLAUS PRODEHL
Geophysical Institute of Karlsruhe University, Karlsruhe, Germany
Cooperation between Karlsruhe University and Romanian institution started already
in 1974 with an earthquake surveillance at Romanian dam sites. These stations
also recorded the destructive earthquake of 1977 and formed the nucleus for
a broader cooperation between seismologists in Bucharest and Karlsruhe which
has lasted until today. Joint aftershock studies and the support at the reinstallation
of the national seismic network after 1977 were amongst the first joint activities
(one German station was officially donated shortly afterwards and transferred
by Prof. Fuchs) and was followed by a continuing exchange of knowledge and
experience by vice versa research visits of scientists.
In 1996 a collaborative research center with the title "Strong earthquakes:
a challenge of geosciences and civil engineering" on earthquake risk problems
was installed at Karlsruhe University involving the multidisciplinary cooperation
of scientists of various fields like geology, seismology, civil engineering,
operation research with the aim to cooperate closely with Romanian research
institutions towards earthquake mitigation with the particular goal to concentrate
on the strange seismicity beneath Vrancea, the causes of these deep and strong
earthquakes and their effects on the city of Bucharest.
A particular geoscientific puzzle was and is the fact that the epicentral area
of these earthquakes is confined to a well-defined volume of about 40 x 80
km, and most earthquakes occur between 70 and 180 km depth within an almost
vertical column. …