Seismic conceptual design of buildings: basic principles for engineers, architects, building owners, and authorities

For a long time earthquake risk was considered unavoidable. It was accepted that buildings would be damaged as a result of an earthquake’s ground shaking. Although measures related to construction methods had already been proposed at the beginning of the 20th century, it is only during the last decades that improved and intensified research has revealed how to effectively reduce the vulnerability of structures to earthquakes. The objective of this document is to present recent knowledge on earthquake protection measures for buildings in a simple and easy to understand manner.