Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics
SECED promotes the study and practice of earthquake engineering, dynamics, and vibration issues like blast and impact.
- Date
- 30 April 2025
- Time
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Overview
This lecture will be preceded by the Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team (EEFIT) AGM and the Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics (SECED) AGM. The lecture will commence at 6.30pm.
On 08 September 2023, a devastating earthquake with a moment magnitude (MW) of 6.8 struck Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains, causing damage to houses, schools, and hospitals in urban centres like Marrakesh, Taroudant, Asmiz, and Chichaoua.
This seismic event also triggered numerous landslides, obstructing transportation networks and isolating remote villages in the High Atlas Mountains.
The event resulted in substantial losses, with >3,000 casualties and ~6,600,000 people affected. Although this was an extremely dramatic scenario, it provided a unique scientific opportunity to collect essential data that could help reduce the impact of similar disasters in the future.
The mission allowed the investigation of the damage scenario and the gathering of extensive field data. The talk will analyse the scenario in Morocco following the earthquake, examine the activation and evolution mechanisms of landslides, evaluate the damage patterns across various construction typologies, and assess remote sensing technologies in reconnaissance missions.
The results from this mission can significantly improve the way we prepare and respond to such extreme and catastrophic events.
The talk is of interest to a wide variety of specialists including earthquake engineers, geotechnical engineers, engineering geologists/geomorphologists, structural engineers, and disaster risk-reduction specialists.
Programme
17:30 - 18:00
Registration and refreshments
18:00 - 18:15
EEFIT AGM
18:15 - 18:30
SECED AGM
18:30 - 20:00
Lecture
20:00
Event ends
Speakers
Viviana Novelli
Cardiff University
associate professor
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Viviana Novelli
Viviana Iris Novelli is an associate professor (senior lecturer) in civil engineering at Cardiff University. She holds a PhD in Earthquake Engineering from University College London (UCL) and has an extensive background in both industry and academia. Her research focuses on advancing multi-risk decision support tools aimed at reducing the impact of natural hazards in terms of minimising human losses and socio-economic disruptions, especially in Official Development Assistance (ODA) countries.
Michael Whitworth
AECOM
technical director
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Michael Whitworth
Michael is a technical director in engineering geologist/geomorphology with 20 years’ experience in Britain, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, with a specialism in geological and geohazards conditions and their impact on infrastructure.
Michael has extensive expertise in geological and geomorphological mapping in a range of geological and climatic settings including tropical climates, having worked in Papua New Guinea, Liberia, Hong Kong and Nepal and Desert environments in Spain, Saudia Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE.
Michael has also led research into the impact of geological hazards on critical infrastructure and has been involved in Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Missions to Nepal (2015 & 2022), Haiti (2021), and Morocco (2025), investigating the impact of earthquake-induced landslides.
Sustainable Development Goals:
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