COST C26 International Symposium Urban Habitat Construction
under Catastrophic Events
Hon.Minister, Rector, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour of opening the COST C26 International
Symposium Urban Habitat Construction under Catastrophic Events
I would like to first of all welcome the speakers and delegates who
have come to this Symposium from other countries, particularly if
it is their first time in Malta. This welcome is made on my personal
behalf, and on behalf of the Faculty for the Built Environment
within the University of Malta, on behalf of the University,
represented today by the Rector, and on behalf of the Minister for
Resources and Rural Affairs who, unfortunately, was called to
other commitments at the last minute.
I would also like to thank the Chairman of COST Action C26,
Prof. Mazzolani for agreeing to hold this Symposium in Malta, and
Perit Ruben Borg who worked very hard on the organization of the
symposium. I have seen the list of speakers on the Programme, and
I am confident that the Symposium will be a successful one, at
least from the academic or technical point of view. I augur that it
will also be successful from the social point of view; I trust that
our visitors will take some time to visit the more significant
features of this small, but intense, island. Yesterday night we had
some wet weather, which may have disrupted the proposed
walking programme. Rain during this time can be very intense,
especially after very hot summers, and we have had some
dramatic, if not catastrophic events, in the past, as a result of
particularly intense storms.
Malta is very close to some of the stronger earthquake epicenters
in the Mediterranean, Sicily in the north and Libya to the south.
However, significant earthquakes are considered rare. Certainly,
although there is an inherent fear of earthquakes in the popular
psyche, there is no widespread pressure for special provisions
against seismic actions. We are also surrounded by a significant
number of active and dormant volcanoes – Etna, Stromboli and
Lipari, Epomeo and Vesuvius, Pantelleria, Linosa and Lampione,
and the submarine Graham volcano – as well as, a bit further away,
Santorini! But we have never really experienced catastrophic
events, except, perhaps, man-made ones, as occurred during the
Second World War.
Nevertheless, there is a history, albeit sparse, of catastrophic events
that are of interest. Perhaps the most famous events are those of
1692/1693, when there occurred a major earthquake in Sicily,
particularly in Messina, accompanied by an eruption of the Etna,
and when Malta experienced some particularly dramatic events,
including a tsunami recorded in Xlendi Bay, Gozo, and the
destruction of half of Mdina as a result of the earth tremors. This
particular event had a very significant effect on the urban habitat –
both in Malta as well as in Sicily, where a number of cities were
destroyed. The main effect was a Baroque revival in Sicily and
Malta, the so-called Earthquake Baroque, via the reconstruction
boom that followed the destruction.
Other earthquakes or tectonic events were also recorded in 1857,
1886, 1911, and 1920 – the damage caused by the latter actually
made the headlines of the New York Times – even though I am
sure that not many residents of New York would have known
where Malta was located.
The ubiquitous use of limestone in our buildings has limited the
incidence of catastrophic fires. And neither do we have damaging
hurricane conditions. Nevertheless, the significant increase in
population density – we are now officially the country in the
European Union with the highest population density, and the
events resulting from this – the increasing density of urban
development – and hence the potentially much higher level of
damage had a catastrophic event, as will be discussed in this
symposium were to occur, the increasing conflict between sites
which are intrinsically dangerous, such as gas depots, and growing
residential zones, the trend to higher and higher building, makes
your topic one of great relevance to us. I would also add that, given
that our economy is very heavily dependent on tourism, and hence
on the integrity of the important architectural and archaeological
patrimony, the socio-economic and cultural consequences of
potential catastrophic events, as contrasted to loss of life, or
damage to building stock, also need to be given consideration.
And in order to do this we need to continue to invest in education
and research in order to build up the capability, within our society,
to give engineering answers to these concerns. This is also one of
the objectives (and duty) of the Faculty which I lead – one in
which, however, much work still needs to be done.
I would like to stop here, at this stage, and to invite the Rector to
contribute to this Opening Session.