Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, vol. 175, n°1-2, pp. 1-2, 2009 ; International audience ; We are pleased to present in this Special Issue “Earthquakes in subduction zones, a multidisciplinary approach” of the journal Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, a selection of papers presented during the International Conference Montessus de Ballore held in Santiago, Chile, in November 2006. This conference was organized by the Department of Geophysics, University of Chile, and the Institute of Physics of the Globe of Paris, in memory of the great 1906 earthquake of Valparaiso. It was sponsored by INSU/CNRS (Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), the Department of Geophysics of the University of Chile, by IPGP (Institute of Physics of the Globe of Paris), by IRD (Institut pour la Recherche et le Développement), MESR (French Ministry of Research and Higher Education), and MAE (French Ministry of Foreign Affairs). This conference has been an excellent opportunity to gather the seismological community working on subduction zone topics, more particularly in the South American context.