7th general assembly of Asian Seismological Commission and Seismological Society of Japan: 2008 fall meeting

Asian Seismological Commission (ASC) was established in 1996 as a regional scientific organization affiliated to International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth’s Interior (IASPEI) and with administrative and scientific decisions consistent with general IASPEI guidelines. Since the establishment of the ASC, many earthquakes in Asia and Pacific region caused serious disasters to economy and society, and at the same time, provided significant lessons and knowledge to earthquake science.

In the last 12 years, development of earthquake science showed rapid development, bright future and significant potential to serve the sustainability of society. Advancements have occurred in seismological observation and interpretation, earthquake source modeling, seismic hazard and risk zonation, strong ground motion seismology and engineering seismology, earthquake forecast and study of earthquake predictability, earthquake early warning system, and seismotectonics. Interdisciplinary studies combining seismology, geodesy, geology, engineering, space science and technology, and computational technology have provided earthquake science with unprecedented opportunities for deepening our understanding of earthquakes and earthquake disasters. We are clear that there is still a long way to go to the solving of the scientific problems of earthquake prediction, the nonlinear response of engineering to seismic strong ground motions, and the preparation of extreme disasters. On the other hand, realistic philosophy is to make full use of our scientific knowledge for reducing earthquake disasters, and to make full use of the practical technologies to obtain the optimized results of the reduction of earthquake disasters.

The main theme of this ASC Assembly, ‘Sharing of Up-to-date Science and Technology to Reduce Earthquake Disaster in Asia’, is to bridge science and technology, to bridge research and application, to bridge domestic efforts and international collaboration, and to bridge Asia-Pacific and the whole world. The goal is the capacity building in Asia-Pacific for the reduction of earthquake disasters.