Among natural disasters earthquakes represent the phenomenon causing the major number of fatalities. Damages in the zones close to the epicenter frequently are above tens of billions of USD. The proper estimation of possbile seismic load is therefore a task of extreme importance, both for purposes of seismic zoning and for the earthquake resistant design of industrial facilities as well.

WINSIMUL has been created with the scope to provide a reliable, easy to use, and versatile tool for the estimation of seismic strong ground motion and site response. The results of WINSIMUL elaborations are the seismological base for earthquake resistant design of buildings and land-use planning. The characteristics of WINSIMUL allow to identify in advance shaky sites less appropriate for construction, to guide experts during the design of buildings or, e. g., to develop emergency plans.

Mestor Snc Catania, designer and developper of WINSIMUL participated as a member of the Associazione degli Industriali della Provincia di Catania at a selection for the Tokyo Techno Business Forum '99. This important forum is an annual meeting addressed to japanese firms and institutions who wish to know more about innovative products and solutions of the rest of the world. JETRO, the Japan External Trade Organization, who organizes the event, selects the best companies of the world and invites them to the Forum. Mestor has been selected in 1999 as the first company to represent Italy at the Forum. In the past no other italian company passed the rigid criteria of the organization committee: Mestor succeeded to satisfy JETRO's severe requests with respect to innovation presenting a product of strong interest for a country exposed to a high seismic risk.

The forum is an important occasion not only for its high prestige but also because offering possibilities of future collaboration with Japan in the field of land-use planning, civil protection and development of high technology products.