In Europe and elsewhere the economically feasible water resources have been greatly developed until the 1970s. g$b<1:8
Although large dams belong to the first structures, which have been designed systematically against earthquakes j~!X;PV3
since the 1930s, the seismic safety of these dams is unknown, as most of them have been designed using seismic ~l)-wNqR4r
design criteria and methods of analysis that are considered obsolete today. The fact that no major dams have J0@X<Lt U
failed during earthquakes and that few lives have been lost (except in the case of tailings dam failures) may give ;q*e=[_DF
the impression that well-designed dams are safe against earthquakes. We need to re-evaluate the seismic safety >0"+4<72
of existing dams based on current state-of-the-art practice and rehabilitate existing dams if necessary. ^]TVo\,N
Additionally, there are a large number of smaller dams, especially earth structures, which were built for /`mks1:pK
irrigation or water supply by organisations or villagers with little experience in dam construction. Earthquake <J^MCqp!v
effects on these dams have rarely been considered
