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The United Nations General Assembly designated the 1990s
as the "International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction
(IDNDR)" to reduce loss of life, property damage, and social
and economic disruption caused by natural disasters. The IDNDR
secretariat launched the RADIUS (Risk Assessment Tools for Diagnosis
of Urban Areas against Seismic Disasters) initiative in 1996,
with financial and technical assistance from the Government
of Japan. It aimed to promote worldwide activities for the reduction
of urban seismic risk, which is growing rapidly, particularly
in developing countries. The primary goal of the initiative
is to help people understand their seismic risk and raise public
awareness as the first step towards seismic risk reduction.
The direct objectives of RADIUS were:
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To develop earthquake damage scenarios and action plans
in nine case-study cities selected worldwide;
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To develop practical tools for seismic risk management,
which could be applied to any earthquake-prone city in the
world;
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To conduct a comparative study to understand urban seismic
risk around the world; and
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To promote information exchange for seismic risk mitigation
at city level.
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