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Every year on Christmas night, Santa Claus secretly brings gifts to the children in the apartments and houses with his sleigh and puts them under the Christmas tree. Unfortunately, in the process, during the landings on the roofs, the load of the sleigh fully loaded with gifts regularly damages the supports of the skids. As a result, they have to be repaired at great expense, and there are delays in delivering the presents. To prevent this from happening again, Santa Claus has decided this year to protect the skids with dampers. 

What started almost a century ago as buffer between railway cars has now become a universally applicable damping element for almost all industry sectors – also as a protective element against potential damages to buildings and industrial facilities caused by earthquakes.

The 9th International STESSA Conference on the Behaviour of Steel Structures in Seismic Areas took place from February 17 to 19 in Christchurch (New Zealand). This conference, which is triennially held, is organized by the Steel Construction New Zealand Incorporated (SCNZ) in cooperation with the University of Auckland, the University of Canterbury and the University of Naples. Like the previous STESSA Conferences, the University of Canterbury was selected to host this event.