The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, today visited the Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology (IZIIS) in Skopje, on the occasion of the promotion of IZIIS as UNESCO Institute of category 2, thus becoming the first UNESCO institution in the Republic of Macedonia and the only UNESCO Institute in the world dealing with earthquake engineering, seismology and risk reduction of major earthquakes, and in anticipation of marking the 50th anniversary of the devastating Skopje earthquake.


In the past decades, President Ivanov stressed in his address, that IZIIS has proven its capacity and power as institution with international value, respected worldwide. We must be proud, President Ivanov emphasized, that IZIIS has become a recognizable brand, one of the most famous institutions of Engineering and Seismology.

“Science cannot still predict earthquakes, but with all that you do in IZIIS, you contribute the buildings that have been constructed by your standards, to suffer all strikes and prevent disasters, and more importantly, casualties, as was the case 50 years ago”, President Ivanov said, adding that having the experience from that disaster, we have to leave safer and more secure world to next generations.

Main topic of the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the participating countries of the in the South-East Europe Cooperation Process, to be held on June 1st, in Ohrid, as President Ivanov informed, will be how to deal with natural disasters challenges. The motto of the summit is “Solidarity in Action” because, President Ivanov stressed, we felt the solidarity of the world after what happened in Skopje and now we want to repay with what we have achieved and learned, we want to transfer our experience and knowledge to the neighboring and close countries faced with similar challenges.

The Director of IZIIS, prof. Dr. Michail Garevski, informed that President Ivanov is the patron of the international conference to be held in May 29 – 31, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Skopje earthquake, which is to be attended by more than 200 representatives from around the world.

“IZIIS has become UNESCO Institute of category 2. We insist the abbreviation IZIIS to remain, despite the new name of this institution which is International Institute of Earthquake Engineering”, Garevski said.

Director Garevski, among the other things, said that IZIIS is the first institute in Europe with post-graduate studies in earthquake engineering since 1967. The initiative for establishing European association which now comprised of 54 countries, he emphasized, comes from Skopje.

During the visit to IZIIS, demonstration test was performed on the seismic vibro-platform.