This action is for support of a workshop to discuss a proposed US-Turkey cooperative project in earthquake engineering. This project is being considered for implementation under the US-Republic of Turkey Joint Cooperative Science and Technology Program. The project involves the installation of an earthquake strong-motion array in Turkey, to record the strong ground shaking from future earthquakes. Following the installation of the array, instrumented buildings would be constructed near the array, enabling both the free-field motions and the building response to be recorded. Because of the unexpected nature, both in time and in space, of the occurrence of earthquakes, and the localized influence of major earthquakes, such data are rarely recorded. Yet it is this full-scale data that is critically needed to advance the state-of-the-art of earthquake engineering. International cooperation is essential in order to speed up the acquisition of this much-needed data. The objective of the proposed cooperative project is to install a strong-motion array, with densely spaced instrument stations, near to the site (within 20 kilometers) in which a major earthquake (Richter magnitude 6 or greater) is predicted to occur within, say, 5 years. Since scientific earthquake prediction is still in its infancy, the prediction of the occurrence is subject to major uncertainty: the prediction of the location and magnitude of the earthquake is much less uncertain. The planning for this array is occurring in stages. In 1978, an international workshop in Hawaii identified sites in Turkey as being amongst the most likely locations worldwide to record strong ground motions, as defined above. In 1985 a US-Turkey workshop held in Istanbul, Turkey, examined in greater depth the feasibility of a strong motion array. The conclusion was that the concept was feasible, and specific recommendations were made. The objective of this present workshop is to work out the final details of the US contribution to the cooperative project, and to prepare a report of the findings to be presented to a US-Turkey workshop to be held in Turkey in September, 1989. Detailed plans for the array will be finalized at this workshop, and the recommendations will be presented to TUBITAK (Turkey) and NSF (US) for joint approval and implementation.//
