Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

The 6th International Conference on "Seismology, Earthquake Engineering and Antelope Users Group Meeting" is underway at Azerbaijan's National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) in Baku.

Co-organized by Azerbaijan's Emergency Situations Ministry, ANAS Department of Earth Sciences and the Antelope User Group (AUG), the event has brought together scientists and seismologists from 20 countries, as well as senior officials and employees at ANAS, representatives of the Emergency Situations Ministry and media representatives.

Addressing the event, Azerbaijan's Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Faig Tagizade said there are hundreds of industrial and agricultural facilities, strategically important oil and gas pipelines and reservoirs on the territory of Azerbaijan, which are prone to potential man-made disasters.

Noting that Azerbaijan has achieved a great success in the researches on natural and manmade disasters, he added that the most typical disasters in Azerbaijan are connected with earthquakes, landslides, floods, drought, rising water levels in rivers and forest wildfires.

Tagizade added that the Emergency Situations Ministry together with the National Academy of Sciences are working together to expand the scientific and technical cooperation in the fields of disaster prevention and elimination of their consequences.

"Recently, the Emergency Situations Ministry and ANAS began discussions on the development of Azerbaijan's Emergency Situations Atlas, which will contain a map of areas that pose a threat from the viewpoint of seismology," he said.

Speaking to the event, ANAS President Akif Alizade highlighted the importance of seismology as a science.

"In today's world, seismology is one of the most effective tools for investigating the structure of the earth that facilitates the work of professionals," the president of ANAS said.

The two-day event will hear reports on topics including: "Seismology and active tectonics", "Seismic networks: data processing, and analysis", "Seismic hazard, risk and mitigation" and "Structural and earthquake engineering".