Earthquake mitigation remains an engineering topic of paramount scientific importance, as demonstrated by the tragic events following the Sumatra earthquake and tsunami of December 24th, 2004 that reverberated across the globe and generated world-wide sympathy for the victims and their plight.

Given the inestimable loss of life and huge financial cost associated with major earthquakes in densly populated areas, it becomes clear that earthquake mitigation is an important challenge for the global engineering community and a major social priority for national goverments in seismically-prone countries.

This book contains over 70 papers from the fifth in the popular international conference series on the subject. A wide list of topics include: Geophysical and Geotechnical Aspects; Seismic Behavior and Vulnerability; Structural Dynamics; Seismic Isolation and Control; Monitoring and Testing; Risk Reduction; and Earthquake-resistant Design.