The latest issue of the scientific journal The Russian Journal of Seismology has been published (Vol. 7, No. 4) This issue contains articles written by scientists from various regions and research organizations, not only in Russia. The geographic coverage is particularly broad: Bishkek, Irkutsk, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Obninsk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

The issue opens with an article written in collaboration between the Central Institute for Research and Design of the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Russian Federation and the Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences (authors: V.V. Gur’ev, Yu.A. Vinogradov, V.M. Dorofeev and E.A. Chilib’eva), titled “A digital platform for monitoring seismic resistance and managing urban development safety in seismically active areas of the Russian Federation” The article reports that a Unified Digital Platform has been developed to ensure urban development safety. This platform is an information system with distributed databases that includes information on the seismic resistance class of urban buildings and their seismic hazard level. A description of the digital platform's operating principles is provided in this paper.

The following article, “Experience of using the OpenQuakeEngine program for probabilistic assessment of seismic hazard in the Batken region of Kyrgyzstan”, was prepared by a representative team of authors from the Institute of Seismology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic K.E. Abdrakhmatov, A.G. Frolova, E.V. Pershina and A.V. Berezina presented a brief description of the seismicity of the Batken Region and adjacent areas and discussed the methodology and stages of conducting a probabilistic seismic hazard assessment for this territory using OpenQuakeEngine software.

The Seismological Branch (Novosibirsk) of the Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences has prepared a paper entitled “Assessment of the feasibility of detecting cracks in the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP dam based on a detailed analysis of its natural frequencies” (authors: I.V. Kokovkin, V.S. Seleznev, E.E. Parkhomenko and D.A. Ukolov). It addresses the important issue of detecting cracks in the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power plant dam using variations in its natural frequencies. The authors found that changes in natural frequencies can be influenced by a variety of factors, including reservoir level, temperature, ice buildup and others. Furthermore, at maximum reservoir filling levels, shifts in the dam's natural frequency occur, which can be associated with defects in the dam that open under significant hydrostatic pressure.

The mini-team of researchers from the Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yu.F. Kopnichev and I.N. Sokolova, presented the article “Formation of new ring-shaped seismicity structures in the region of South Kamchatka prior to great earthquake of July 29, 2025 (Mw=8.8)” The paper examines several characteristics of seismicity in the South Kamchatka region, allowing the authors to estimate the magnitude of a potentially strong event in the South Kamchatka region and analyze the causes of the formation of ring seismicity structures at different depths in subduction zones.

The group of Sakhalin-based authors from the Sakhalin Branch of the Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Marine Geology
and Geophysics Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (D.V. Kostylev, N.V. Kostyleva and M.A. Shchukin) prepared an article for the Russian Journal of Seismology entitled “Seismological data information system in the Sakhalin Branch of the GS RAS” The article describes the database's organizational principles, its functional capabilities, and the key features of the new expanded version of the “The Far East Region Seismicity Monitoring Database”. The database currently includes a number of features: automatic email sending, advanced map queries, automated query-based reports, and near-real-time monitoring tools for emergency services.

The article by K.Yu. Silkin from the Central Branch of the GS RAS, “Study of the properties of expert system for seismic event classification using convolutional neural networks” concludes a series of publications by this author devoted to the development of methods for solving certain seismological problems by creating and training a computer vision system based on convolutional neural networks. This article demonstrates that the resulting prototype of an expert system for classifying seismic events based on their seismograms is quite capable of successfully solving the tasks assigned to it. Ways to improve the quality, accuracy and speed of the expert system are outlined. Possibilities of complicating the set of characteristics are proposed, the classification of records by which can be made, for example, by tectonic conditions in the earthquake source.

The groundbreaking article was prepared at the Baikal Branch of the Geophysical Surveys of the Russian Academy of Sciences. For the first time, seismologists from Irkutsk invited schoolgirls (Alina Anikina and Evelina Kirichenko) as co-authors, who helped them survey the buildings of their own school No. 64 in that city. The article is titled “The November 10, 2024 earthquake and engineering and seismometric survey of the buildings of secondary comprehensive school No. 64 in Irkutsk” (authors: E.A. Kobeleva, Ya.B. Radziminovich, V.V. Chechelnitsky, A.D. Anikina and E.V. Kirichenko). The article presents the results of an analysis of macroseismic and instrumental data on a moderate earthquake recorded on November 10, 2024, in the Eastern Sayan Mountains. Instrumental data were obtained by stations of the regional network, as well as by a temporary engineering seismometric station in one of the buildings of comprehensive school No. 64 in Irkutsk, where an assessment of the technical condition of the buildings was being carried out at the time of the earthquake.

The issue concludes with another article from a team of authors from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: A.S  Zakupin, D.V. Kostylev, N.S. Stovbun and N.V. Kostyleva, “Rapid assessment of seismic hazard in the southern part of Sakhalin Island based on a set of geophysical data based on the current medium-term forecast”. The article examines the feasibility of implementing a medium-term strong earthquake forecast (M≥5.5) in accordance with Protocol No. 2 of the Sakhalin Branch of the Russian Expert Council on Earthquake Forecast dated April 9, 2025, which applies to the central and southern regions of Sakhalin Island within individual segments of the West Sakhalin and Central Sakhalin faults. For this purpose, the work used data from measurement points of the vertical component of the electrotelluric field and the volumetric activity of radon in the subsoil air, which are located in the zone of validity of the medium-term forecast.