In Europe and elsewhere the economically feasible water resources have been greatly developed until the 1970s. 3t)07(x_B
Although large dams belong to the first structures, which have been designed systematically against earthquakes [g` P(?
since the 1930s, the seismic safety of these dams is unknown, as most of them have been designed using seismic ^g"G1,[%w
design criteria and methods of analysis that are considered obsolete today. The fact that no major dams have ]`b/_LJN$F
failed during earthquakes and that few lives have been lost (except in the case of tailings dam failures) may give ,)[u<&
the impression that well-designed dams are safe against earthquakes. We need to re-evaluate the seismic safety 9m /v^
of existing dams based on current state-of-the-art practice and rehabilitate existing dams if necessary. vm_+ U*%c
Additionally, there are a large number of smaller dams, especially earth structures, which were built for Tm
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irrigation or water supply by organisations or villagers with little experience in dam construction. Earthquake @/g%l1$`
effects on these dams have rarely been considered
