The organization of construction regulations in the field of architecture design, construction and civil engineering on the basis of Eurocodes, the development of new seismic maps including national annexes, updating geo-technical basis for Banja Luka`s urban area, permanent education of population in the field of seismic protection, the initiative for establishing the Institute of Engineering Seismology and Earthquake Engineering of the Republic of Srpska are just part of the whole range of the conclusions made at the International Conference on Earthquake Engineering, which took place from October 26 to 28 in Banja Luka.
The conference was organized by the City of Banja Luka on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the devastating Banja Luka earthquake, which struck the city in 1969. The conference co-organizers were the Institute of Construction from Banja Luka and the Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology from Skopje.
This huge event, where 82 scientific papers from the field of seismology and earthquake engineering were presented, gathered the most renowned experts from the former Yugoslavia and the entire world. The conference was contributed by globally renowned names from the field of seismology (from Europe, North America and Asia) and it was generally said to have been a complete success and to have justified all expectations.
The conference started on October 26 by a short documentary on the 1969 Banja Luka earthquake, its consequences and the rebuilding of the city in the past four decades. The event was officially opened by a member of the Honorary Committee of the International Conference on Earthquake Engineering and the President of the Republic of Srpska, Rajko Kuzmanović. He said that applying scientific papers in practice might prevent human victims and ease the pain in large-scale natural disasters.
“Four decades ago citizens of Banja Luka experienced the dark side of nature. However, with the unselfish aid of the whole former Yugoslavia and a considerable part of Europe and the whole world they rebuilt their city, which is today fully entitled to be called ‘Beauty on Vrbas’”, President reminded and added that the freedom of movement of ideas and inventions was what the modern world should be based on.
Extending a welcome to all the conference participants the Chairman of the Organizational Committee and the Mayor of Banja Luka, Dragoljub Davidović, said that on October 27 1969 time had stood still for Banja Luka.
“This natural disaster brought the life of our city to a standstill. The devastating earthquake took 15 lives, leaving 1117 injured behind and a huge number of facilities destroyed or severely damaged. Today we have reminiscences of the hardship that made crucial changes to the appearance of the city”, Davidović said. He added that mitigating seismic risk was the conference lode star. It turned out that the conference was finished with local and global experts considerable experience exchange that would help minimize the consequences of devastating earthquakes in the future.
Peter Suhadolc, Secretary General of IASPEI, said during the official conference opening ceremony that he was extremely honored to be in a position to attend such an event in Banja Luka, stressing out that earthquakes could not be predicted, but that their consequences could be mitigated, which was, above all, the conference basic task.
During all the three conference days different lecturers took the floor by different sessions that mostly presented new findings in the field of seismic research from their scientific papers and challenges in the field of the construction of solid facilities in seismically sensitive areas.
Local and foreign experts analyzed the Banja Luka earthquake from 40 years ago to detail, drew conclusions and learnt certain lessons. They also gave out a prediction of 63% probability that in the following 50 years the area of Banja Luka would be struck by an earthquake that would measure 7 degrees on the Mercalli scale, and in the following 100 years by an earthquake that would measure 8 degrees on the Mercalli scale.
Certain papers were about masonry and reinforced concrete buildings and their resistance during seismic action. Additionally, a question was raised on the development of as accurate map as possible and of a catalogue of the most active seismic areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the explanation that it was an absolute imperative for any analysis of potential earthquake recurrence in the near future for this part of the Balkans.
A great deal of attention was given to the application of the Eurocode 2 and Eurocode 8 that serve for estimating the seismic safety of reinforced concrete buildings as well as to the behavior of local ground during seismic action.
In the very end of the conference a special working group developed a proposal of the conference conclusions that were submitted to the participants for their potential comments and approval. Regional and global guests were amazed by the conference organizational aspect and the hospitality of the hosts, putting particular stress on Banja Luka`s `having a big heart`. That is why all of them, without exception, said that they would be eager to visit the `Beauty of Krajina` again.

Remembrance of Banja Luka`s Citizens Killed in Earthquake
Laying wreaths near the memorial plaque at Krajina Square dedicated to the citizens of Banja Luka killed in the 1969 devastating earthquake, the Mayor of Banja Luka, Dragoljub Davidović, Deputy Mayor of Banja Luka, Jasmin Komić and the delegations of the Institute of Construction Banja Luka and of the Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology from Skopje marked the 40th anniversary of the natural disaster on October 27. It was at 9:11 a.m. that they started approaching the memorial plaque from the city memorial clock and laid wreaths with the symbolic inscription `We must never forget!`
Reminding the gathered of the saddest day in the so far history of Banja Luka, Davidović said that “on this day we remember the lost lives and huge devastation unprecedented in the broader area of Banja Luka”.

Return to Past
In an exhibit room of the Cultural Center of Banski dvor there was an exhibition of photos, newspaper articles and documents opened during the Conference. It was dedicated to the 1969 devastating earthquake.
The artifacts that revealed in the most expressive way the grade of damage and human suffering in Banja Luka from forty years ago, but also the great solidarity among all the parts of the former Yugoslavia, were taken from the holdings of the RS Archives.