Earthquake Mitigation and Preparedne​ss

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On April 5–7th, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will meet in Boise, Idaho with State earthquake program managers and other earthquake community partners for the 2011 National Earthquake Program Mangers (NEPM) Meeting. The purpose is to discuss earthquake mitigation and preparedness strategies for the U.S. Also attending the meeting will be staff from the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Science Foundation, the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium, the Northeast States Emergency Consortium, and the Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup. The Western States Seismic Policy Council, one of the four regional earthquake consortia, will host this year’s meeting, and will hold its Annual Meeting and Awards in Excellence Banquet on April 4.
“This meeting could not come at a more critical time,” said Ed Laatsch, Director of the FEMA National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) and Chief of the FEMA Building Science Branch. “The events in Japan have shown us again that earthquakes are a matter of life and death. When a nation is prepared, and seismic designed building codes are adopted and enforced, lives will be saved.”
NEHRP, which was first authorized by Congress more than 30 years ago, seeks to mitigate earthquake losses in the United States by continuous research to develop cost-effective risk reduction measures, and actively promoting their implementation. As one of the four NEHRP federal agencies, FEMA is responsible for developing effective earthquake risk reduction tools. Effective Building Codes are one of the most important tools for life safety and infrastructure protection in an earthquake.
FEMA’s NEHRP activities are carried out with partners from Federal, State, and local governments as well as public, private, and non-profit agencies. This year, as in previous years, earthquake mitigation and preparedness discussions on training, outreach resources, developments in earthquake science and technology, and ways to assist each other in implementation efforts will dominate the 3-day meeting. Sessions will include improving seismic risk assessments with GIS and HAZUS; roll out of the new FEMA pre-earthquake structural assessment software tool, ROVER; and the use of social media as a tool for State programs. A new FEMA training course, Non-Structural Seismic Mitigation, E-74, will be offered on the final day, along with a field trip of faults and seismic hazards in the Boise area led by Idaho Geological Survey staff.
As the world grieves for the lost lives and destruction in Japan, as well as the other damaging earthquakes during the past year, we must learn from these for the future. According to Ed, “All of the earthquakes, from Haiti to Chile to Christchurch to Japan, are providing us with a unique opportunity to learn from these tragedies to help save lives and communities in the future. Our job at FEMA is to translate that data and research into improved practices that will lead to building a more earthquake resilient nation.”