From 27 to 31 July 2026 Beijing hosted the International Conference on Earthquake Engineering (ICEE 2026), held to mark 50 years since the Great Tangshan Earthquake of 1976. IGES Director Jon Karapetyan presented a joint Armenian–Chinese report.
The report
“China–Armenia seismogeodynamic network. First results. The basin effect: wave-field transformation and seismic hazard.” J. Karapetyan (Institute of Geophysics and Engineering Seismology after A. Nazarov, Gyumri) and Li Li (Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing).
The report showed how one record from the network answers two questions: what shook, and what the ground did with the waves. A key example is the 1988 Spitak earthquake: Gyumri, which stands on a sedimentary basin, was hit far harder than Vanadzor, although Vanadzor was closer to the fault.
The conference was part of a series of events marking 50 years of earthquake relief and disaster response since Tangshan. It brought together engineers and seismologists working on how cities can withstand strong earthquakes.
