The Syrian National Seismic Network project began in late 1993. The primary goal of the network was to study general seismicity in the region. Our customer, Syria's General Establishment of Geology and Mineral Resources, detailed the general layout of the seismic network and made preliminary seismic noise measurements. In November 1994, the entire staff of the newly established seismological department worked with Dr. Trnkoczy and Mr. Grandchamps of Kinemetrics' Swiss office to make detailed studies of site conditions and determine the final locations of the seismic sites.

Kinemetrics' personnel carefully considered the seismo-geological aspects of the sites and how to made the best use of them. Radio frequency profiles were drawn from maps and local conditions were verified in the field. Approximately half of the originally proposed sites were re-positioned to assure better seismic noise and/or data transmission conditions.

The area covered by the stations is mainly in the western half of the country, which is more important from a socio-economic standpoint and most interesting from a seismological standpoint. Throughout history, the region has been the site of many catastrophic earthquakes.

Syria is a very beautiful country; not at all the desert wastelands that people often visualize when they think of that land. And because of the care taken in making the site selections, along with Kinemetrics' ongoing commitment to support the project, the Syrians have been successfully recording good, reliable data from their national network for several years.