Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a resolution “On additional measures to further improve the system for ensuring seismic safety of the population and territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan.”

The national system of early warning of strong earthquakes in the republic will start operating from 1 December 2023.

When an earthquake with a magnitude of 5 points or more is registered through the mobile application “Strong Earthquake Alert”, an urgent notification will be sent to the population in a matter of seconds about an impending strong earthquake in certain areas of the republic.

Also, by resolution:

the Republican Council was formed to coordinate measures to ensure seismic safety of the population and territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan, headed by the Prime Minister;

in the executive structure of the Cabinet of Ministers, a Department for the Coordination of Seismic Safety Issues was established;

the Program of Measures for Ensuring Seismic Safety and Strengthening Control in Construction is approved.

Starting from 1 June 2023, within the framework of the “Week of preparing the population for an earthquake”, on the basis of the schedule, mahallas will regularly conduct training sessions to ensure the safety of the population in emergency situations.

From 1 September 2023, inspections for control in the field of construction and housing and communal services, together with khokimiyats, will identify:

structures unauthorized built on flights of stairs, attics and in common areas of apartment buildings classified as seismic safety categories III-IV, located in seismically active zones;

unauthorized changes to the construction of apartment buildings, including basements and first floors, affecting their seismic resistance.

Permission to start construction work to change the design of facilities under construction or existing facilities classified in seismic safety categories II–IV (changing the number of floors, erecting extensions, adding a floor) will be provided only after a re-examination of the modified urban planning documentation of the project and obtaining a positive conclusion.

Starting from 1 October 2023, certification of specialists involved in the development and examination of project documentation, construction and installation works and control functions for buildings and structures of II-IV categories of seismic safety is introduced.

Seismic safety facilities are divided into the following categories according to their importance:

I - with a low hazard factor;

II - with an average hazard factor;

III - with a high hazard factor;

IV - with a very high hazard factor.

The list of objects by category is here.

From 1 January 2024, the practice of developing draft master plans for cities located in seismically active zones based on maps of seismic microzoning of the respective territories will be introduced.