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Abstract

La traduction fait référence à la partie principale de la publication anglaise (Grünthal et al., 1998) décrivant l'Echelle Macrosismique Européenne (EMS-98). Ce texte est un extrait de la traduction française existante de la version anglaise complète (Grünthal et Levret, 2001). La partie princi-pale est constituée des pages 14 à 20 de l'original anglais et de la traduction de la version complète. Cette numérotation des pages est conservée ici.

The translation refers to the core part of the European Macroseismic Scale (EMS-98) of the English original (Grünthal et al., 1998), respectively the core part reproduced here is an excerpt from the existing French translation of the English full version (Grünthal and Levret, 2001). The core part consists of pages 14 to 20 of both the English original and the translation of the full French version. This page numbering is retained here. The European Macroseismic Scale (EMS-98) is a tool for intensity assignment. The macroseismic intensity represents a classification of the severity of ground-motion shaking during an earthquake on the basis of observed effects at a given place. The EMS-98 is the most recent scale in general use. It fully considers the varying strength of buildings in the form of six vulnerability classes, five damage grades for both masonry and reinforced concrete structures, and differentiates structural and non-structural damage as well. Another diagnostic element concerns the relative frequency of observed effects with quantitative definitions of the qualitative terms “few, many, most.” EMS-98 is the only intensity scale complemented by comprehensive guidelines and background materials. They provide the basis that the EMS-98 can easily be adapted for use to the building stock anywhere in the world. The European Seismological Commission launched the development of a new scale in 1988 which should consider modern earthquake-resistant building types and engineering requirements. So the test version EMS-92 and then EMS-98 were evolved. The latter should be the basis for intensity evaluation in European countries and is also applied in many countries outside Europe. The English original of the EMS-98 was translated as full scale into French, Italian, Spanish and Chinese. Moreover, the core part or the short form is available in a total of altogether 30 languages. Such multilingual availability is important since persons, not always fluent in English, act as observers and sensors in macroseismology.