Welcome Message

The Technical Committee of Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Associated Problems (TC203) of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) and the Italian Geotechnical Association (AGI) are delighted to welcome all distinguished members of our societies in the Second International Conference on “Performance-Based Design in Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering”, which will be held in Italy in the marvellous city of Taormina in Sicily, from 28 th to 30th May 2012.

Following the footsteps of the most successful first PBD conference held in Tokyo in 2009 and the 5th International Conference in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering held in 2010 in Santiago, Chile, the Taormina PBD 2012 conference will offer an ideal forum to present and discuss the most recent advances and progresses in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and in particular in the Performance Based Design of structures. The Conference is organised around several state of the art and keynote lectures given by distinguished international experts and over 150 peer review papers in different topics. Special sessions are devoted to the mega Tohuku 2011 earthquake in Japan, the two large devastating earthquakes in New Zealand (2011) and the Abruzzo 2009 earthquake. Besides the more technical topics, the conference will also give us the opportunity to discuss new trends in Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering and Performance Based Design related to global sustainability and life cycle analysis.

Taormina is an ideal place to host this important event. Located at the east coast of Sicily in the Ionian Sea, midway between the cities of Catania and Messina has a very long history founded 25 centuries ago as an important ancient Greek colony. The present medieval town with marvellous gardens, important cultural activities, beautiful sceneries, with the majestic Mount Etna’s volcano nearby and important roman remains, including the famous Greek-Roman theatre, is a very popular colourful and vibrant tourist destination since 19th century. We are sure that in Taormina, besides the interesting conference, you will have the chance to savour the renowned Italian hospitality, pleasant weather, the exquisite ‘Italian’ food and unique archaeological sites, cultural events and surrounding sceneries.

Looking forward to welcome you in Taormina in May 2012,

Prof. Kyriazis Pitilakis Prof. Stefano Aversa Prof. Michele Maugeri