THE BRITISH SERB MAGAZINE

http://www.ebritic.com/?p=665809

Earthquakes in Serbia
August 19, 2018

by Branko Babic
Earthquakes in Serbia are a recurring phenomenon and indeed not many
lifetimes go by without people in this region of the world being subjected to
violent tremors, shaking of the ground that causes damage to all concerned.
My own family recalls two major earthquakes in the Kraljevo region and tell of
the panic and damage caused by such events. In the old days people used to
be terrified of such “Wrath from God” for earthquakes were perceived as
punishment for the evils and sins committed. But in our time science has a
good understanding of what is happening during earthquakes and why they
occur.

Typical result of large sudden movements of the ground caused by

earthquakes and as in the Kraljevo earthquake the old buildings are the ones
that suffer the greatest damage.

The central volume of our lovely planet is made up of a molten mass which is
constantly moving about. Above that is the largest volume of earth called the
Mantle. This layer has the consistency of viscous tar that flows about and
gradually becomes more solid as it extends towards the solid crust we live on.
The Mantle supports the thin crust of solid ground that contains all the seas of
the world and forms the continents. The thin layer of solid ground on which we
live is called the Lithosphere but this layer is not in one piece but rather a
tightly compressed solid hard mass of earth with many separate parts that
interlock, somewhat like a giant jigsaw puzzle. These interlinked sections are
constantly moving about sliding past each other, responding to the dynamics
of the deeper core layers as they restructure. It is the movement of these
superficial land masses as they collide and rub against each other that result
in huge dissipations of stress energy between plates.

Earth anatomy molten core

Because the sides of these Plates are irregular the jagged, edges get stuck as
the main part of the land mass continues to move and at some point in this
natural movement, the edge surfaces suddenly slip against each other to
cause severe tremors in the ground. Along the edges of the large land mass
are many smaller such interlocking sections called Faults. Fault sections
along the vast boundary of the moving land masses are the sites of localised
earthquakes so that as the entire Plate moves about earthquakes are
generated at various interacting sites. Slippage occurs at different places
along the plate boundary and modern science is accurately predicting where
the next release in stress along the fault is likely to be. Modern computer
programmes have been refined to predict stress release along the faults and
these programmes have been used to great effect along the fault lines in
Turkey and elsewhere.
It is the violent and sharp movements of the ground along these plate
boundaries that causes buildings to collapse and cause death, injury and
destruction of all things. This process of “Continental Drift” has been occurring
for all time and will continue for as long as there is a molten centre to the
planet. Movement of land masses occurs on many planets and heavenly
bodies and the entire universe is subject to these dynamics.
Our planet is divided into several large tectonic plates which encompass vast
areas of our world but of interest to us in the Mediterranean Sea region where
the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate collide to cause earthquakes in
Serbia. The dynamics of these tectonic plates relates to the way the Eurasian
Plate is being impacted by the African Plate. At the plate boundary this
compressive dynamic causes slippage of land masses.

White lines mark the boundaries of major tectonic plates and the red dots the
volcanic activity

Modern astrophysics is beginning to understand how heavenly bodies interact

and behave in what is a high energy, stable, electro-gravitational system that
holds everything in the Universe together. The universe is shaped by
electromagnetic forces generated by flowing charged particles referred to as
plasma and it is factors resulting from this plasma flow that hold planets and
everything else in place. On some planets even in our own solar system,
gravitational forces generated by the arrangement of stellar masses cause
huge planetary distortions and these movements and energy fluctuations
cause tremors.
On our planet, gravitational forces shift vast quantities of water from one side
of the planet to the other. Earth is accompanied in a close orbit with our moon
and as the earth rotates about its axis and the moon rotates about the earth,
the gravitational pull of the moon draws the seas from one side of the planet
to the other. We experience this movement of the seas as tides and every
sailor will be very familiar with the powerful currents that result from tidal flow.
Each cubic meter of water weighs a metric ton and when the seas move,
billions upon billions of tons of sea water shift from one side of the planet to
the other. The movement of so much weight pressing on the continental
shelves to add to the load imposed on the land mass. This pressure causes
additional stresses between plates.
Science describes ways in which land masses interact to cause earthquakes
but basically this complex science can be summarised into regions of
interaction where one land mass is forced to slide into the depths by sliding
below the mass of the other. Technically this process is called “Subduction”
and as one plate slides below the other the land mass is forced towards
deeper layers where it melts whilst the other rises to form mountains.

Subduction Zone.

One plate is forced to move below the other and in the Serbian earthquakes
the tremors are caused by the friction generated as the African Plate is forced
below the Eurasian Plate. In this graphic the African Plate would be on the
left, being subducted below the Eurasian Plate, on the right.
A well understood example of this type of continental collision is seen in the
Himalayas where the highest mountains on earth are formed as the Indian
Plate sinks below the Eurasian plate. The collisions of the land masses here
result in frequent and often devastating destruction of property along the fault
edges as the Eurasian plate is pushed upwards.
In all cases the disruption caused by colliding masses results in the sinking or
upheaval of land which creates the hills and valleys we see in all parts of the
world. In Serbia, land movements due to earthquakes are seen on many
levels and there are many fault lines so far identified. Several useful studies
are published and most recently Katic et al (2013) and Morovic et al identified
and measured many fault lines. Below is a graphic specifying fissures in the
Kraljevo region expanding along the West to North and North to East region of
Serbia. This study extended as far as Čačak because the region again
suffered a major earthquake in 2010.
 Red lines represent fissures in the ground below the Kraljevo region.

Serbia has well established earthquake technological know-how and the

University of Belgrade administers the Centre for “Remote Sensing”. This
Centre recorded the strength and distribution of earthquake epicentres (focus
of energy release directly above the moving fault line) for the Kraljevo
earthquake in 2010.
Professor Radmila Pavlović released the graphic below classifying the energy
release in terms of red circles. The larger the circle the greater the energy
released to the surface. Kraljevo is seen to have been at the largest epicentre
and indeed a great deal of damage was done to this old city. When the
rooftops of Kraljevo are examined from one of the local skyscrapers it can be
seen that a huge amount of damage was done by the tremors, particularly to
the old buildings which make up the major part of the housing stock of the city.
 The larger the red circle the more energy was released in the tremor.

Science is beginning to understand the nature and behaviour of tectonic

movements and what is becoming clear is that there are sequential patterns
that are seen time and aging in fissure behaviour. Tremors on the surface are
grinding movements of fissure edges the resultant energy release forming a
“seismic wave” that propagates in all directions. When highly ordered
sequential energy release along fissures occur the behaviour of an
earthquake becomes predictable. The Kraljevo study demonstrates that when
numerous well defined clustered, sequented events, occur along several of
the wedged entanglements the synchronised release of energy is associated
with a “critical event” and an earthquake is imminent. These initial events are
essential, useful factors in tectonics science and when numerous wedge
clusters become synchronised in releasing frictional energy the state of
tension becomes “Super Critical”, to result in major earthquakes.
Science is exact and has to be reproducible ie scientists cannot get involved
with claims that cannot be repeated by other researchers following the same
procedures and so they are restricted to saying things in terminology that
stands scrutiny but what the above paragraph means, is that when a series of
tremor events follow each other in a given order an earthquake is predictable.
The nature of subduction and compression of land masses along the
interplate boundaries creates huge movements of the ground and depending
on how much energy is released during the frictional displacement and the
direction of the moving land masses as to the final shape and form of the
resulting disruptions. Hills and valleys are formed by inter-fissure collisions
and the resultant upheavals. All such disruptions form mountains but with so
many fault lines and frequent ground movements the terrain in Serbia
inevitably becomes hilly with lots of valleys. Many say that these formations
result in beautiful landscapes creating a heaven on earth. The mountains and
valleys create an idyllic environment for farming communities and self
sustained living.
The fundamental geographic relief formation being acknowledged to be an
ideal environment for life to flourish inevitably results in people choosing to
make their homes there and recently, this thesis has been consolidated by
research into the evolvement of human civilisations. Archaeology is beginning
to accept that it was this very region of the world where the earliest
civilisations were established and latest research has unearthed artefacts
proving that the earliest written language was put together along the Danube
Valley. The “Vinch Civilisation” settled at the confluence of the river Sava and
the Danube river in Belgrade, has provided evidence to demonstrate that this
area of the Danube Valley was well established 10,000 years ago. Excited
archaeologists are unearthing evidence of advanced cultures well established
thousands of years before Our Lord Jesus Christ was born. Evidence dated to
many millennia before Christ’s Birth is confirmed, see: ebritic.com/?
p=598550 Most people find geographic relief of this type aesthetically
pleasing and many artists have recorded the resultant beauty of the
landscape. Below is a painting by one of Serbia’s best classic art masters.

A typical scene of hills and valleys in central Serbia.

Painting by Veljko Djurdjevic.

World wide there are some 500,000 registered earthquake tremors each year
but thankfully, most of these do no damage but a few severe earthquakes are
the cause of immense damage and loss of life but comparatively rare. The
Haiti, earthquake in 2010 cause massive destruction to infrastructure and
ended up costing some 300,000 people their lives. Similarly, large
earthquakes in Indonesia in 2004 caused huge damage to property
devastating the local populations.
Elsewhere, large Tsunami events wipe out entire cities and devastate large
areas of land. The powerful surge of seawater resulting from the snapping
movement of the sea bed along the subductive zone forces billions of cubic
metres of sea water to move suddenly. This rapid, fast moving wave travels
from one end of the oceans to the other at a super fast speed and moves too
quickly for emergency services to warn and remove entire populations from
impact areas. Unbelievable damage is done to coastal sites impacted by
Tsunamis. As most of the human populations are spread along coasts the
damage done by Tsunamis is extreme.

Japanese Tsunami caused extensive damage to coastal populations.

Earthquakes are measured by a classification of the amount of energy

released by the grinding fissure edges causing surface ground movements
and a scale of 1 to 10 has been established that is called the “Richter Scale”.
Earthquakes at the extreme end of the scale have never been experienced
but very severe earthquakes of 8 on this scale are recorded in the most
destructive of tectonic subduction movements. The Kraljevo type of
earthquake is the most common and caused serious but not devastating
destruction and loss of life measuring at about 5.5 on the Richter Scale.
Science is beginning to quantify detectable changes in the environment that
are related to and have an effect on earthquakes. Indeed science can
correlate earthquake events to weather conditions. For millennia people have
understood that animals are able to foretell an imminent earthquake but the
electrostatic build-up which the animals are sensitive to also has an effect on
the local weather conditions. The relationship has yet to be scientifically
quantified. Nikola Tesla pointed out that earthquakes are predictable by
measuring the electrostatic build-up in the fissures but science has yet to
understand and optimise the phenomena.
Ground movements are an ongoing function of the earth stabilising its
planetary structure and as tectonic movements are so damaging to everything
on the surface of the planet, man has for millennia been trying to find ways of
minimising the damage sudden movements of the ground cause. Every
society has its methodology for avoiding damage caused by earthquakes but
a Serbian Copyrighted and Granted Patent No 53425, registered at Zavod,
the Serbian Intellectual Property Office in Belgrade, describes how Serbian
know-how is planning to prevent buildings from collapsing during tremors.
In this Patent a system of inclined surfaces is used to dissipate the energy of
the tremor. Figs 1, 2 and 3 show a standard brick which has inclined sections,
receptacles and protrusions that embed one brick into another to prevent the
bricks sliding off their coursing. The system does not use mortar to bond
building materials together but rather the entire construction has a 360
degrees freedom of movement so that it does not matter from which direction
the tremors arise. The fact that bricks are not bonded but are contained within
receptacles 3, by protrusions 2 of the brick assembled on the next row, allows
the freedom of movement required to dissipate the energy but prevents the
break-up of construction elements. The foundation of the building moves
about in sympathy with the juddering ground but the movement is not
transferred to the building structure. The building remains stationary whilst the
foundation and the lowest rows of slotted bricks shake to and fro freely.

To better explain how the innovator has solved the problem of buildings being
demolished by tremors further patent registered drawings are used to explain
the essential elements of the concept of energy dissipation. Figs 6, 7 and 8
explain the action of the components of the above design in more detail.
Protrusions 2, Fig 1, accommodated in the receptacles 3, Fig 3 are not fixed
but are free to move about the receptacle space 3, Fig 6. The effectiveness in
preventing transmission of energy into the building above the foundations
relates to the inclined surfaces 6 and 7 demonstrated in Fig 8 and surfaces 10
and 11 in Fig 7. Here it can be seen that as the lower brick 5a moves in
sympathy with the moving foundation, the shifting ground forces the brick 5a
to moves against gradient 6. This movement in effect has a lifting effect on the
brick above and the entire structure of the building is lifted along inclined
surface 7. Lifting of any weight requires energy and in lifting the entire
building, enormous amounts of energy are used up. This lifting process
wastes energy to in effect dissipate the energy available to shake the building.
The amount of energy being transferred to the fabric of the building is minimal
because most of it has been dissipated in the lifting process. Buildings remain
intact and undamaged and the bricks always have to slide back to the only
stable position along axis 4 Fig 6, to reposition the building back to its original
build.
Further technical solutions have been registered at Zavod and another useful
system is described by another Serbian registration which also allows the
foundation to move about freely without transferring the tremor to the structure
of the building. In this design the foundation sitting and in direct contact with
the ground is separated from the main building ground floor slab by a thin
layer of bitumen which acts as a damp proof coarse and a sliding surface. The
building is constructed on a separate floor slab with a built in receptacle to
accommodate a protrusion as in Fig 1 and Fig 3. The sliding effect is
extremely effective against energy transfer into the main structure of the
building.
Yet further examples of Registered anti-earthquake methodology is to be
found in the literature base registered in Zavod and in this example the
foundation and the building slab has inclined receptacles specifically designed
to allow the load bearing spheres to roll about within the receptacle space.
The ground foundation 1, Fig 7, judders about in sympathy with the seismic
wave and as the foundation moves in any given direction the spheres
supporting the building slab 2 are forced to clime up the inclined surfaces 4 of
the receptacles 5. The ground and the slab moves about in sympathy but the
movement of the spheres on inclined sides of the receptacles uses up energy
in the lifting process, to in effect dissipate tremor energy and prevent the
building being shaken to bits. In all cases the building slab 2 and the
foundation realign to their original relationship as the tremors subside
because the only stable position for this design is along the central positions
of the receptacles, where the sphere rests because of the inclined surfaces of
the receptacles. Extremely effective anti-earthquake methodology becomes
available to architects to prevent structural collapse due to earthquakes.

As research into the extreme damage caused by a natural phenomenon that

has always been there and always will be there continues, it becomes obvious
that humanity simply has to accept reality and formulate Laws that will prevent
new building being put up in earthquake prone regions of the world, unless,
they are designed to the required criteria. No Planning Permission should be
granted unless evidence is provided to demonstrate that the proposed
building is earthquake proof. There are plenty of technical solutions to
minimise damage caused by this natural process.