National Earthquake Resilience

National Earthquake Resilience

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2011-09-09

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 0309186773

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The United States will certainly be subject to damaging earthquakes in the future. Some of these earthquakes will occur in highly populated and vulnerable areas. Coping with moderate earthquakes is not a reliable indicator of preparedness for a major earthquake in a populated area. The recent, disastrous, magnitude-9 earthquake that struck northern Japan demonstrates the threat that earthquakes pose. Moreover, the cascading nature of impacts-the earthquake causing a tsunami, cutting electrical power supplies, and stopping the pumps needed to cool nuclear reactors-demonstrates the potential complexity of an earthquake disaster. Such compound disasters can strike any earthquake-prone populated area. National Earthquake Resilience presents a roadmap for increasing our national resilience to earthquakes. The National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) is the multi-agency program mandated by Congress to undertake activities to reduce the effects of future earthquakes in the United States. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-the lead NEHRP agency-commissioned the National Research Council (NRC) to develop a roadmap for earthquake hazard and risk reduction in the United States that would be based on the goals and objectives for achieving national earthquake resilience described in the 2008 NEHRP Strategic Plan. National Earthquake Resilience does this by assessing the activities and costs that would be required for the nation to achieve earthquake resilience in 20 years. National Earthquake Resilience interprets resilience broadly to incorporate engineering/science (physical), social/economic (behavioral), and institutional (governing) dimensions. Resilience encompasses both pre-disaster preparedness activities and post-disaster response. In combination, these will enhance the robustness of communities in all earthquake-vulnerable regions of our nation so that they can function adequately following damaging earthquakes. While National Earthquake Resilience is written primarily for the NEHRP, it also speaks to a broader audience of policy makers, earth scientists, and emergency managers.


Preventing Earthquake Disasters: The Grand Challenge in Earthquake Engineering

Preventing Earthquake Disasters: The Grand Challenge in Earthquake Engineering

Author: National Research Council (U.S.). Committee to Develop a Long-Term Research Agenda for the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES)

Publisher: National Academy Press

Published: 2003-11-21

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13:

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The Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES), administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF), is scheduled to become operational in 2004. These network sites will perform a range of experiments to test and validate complex computer models being developed to simulate the behavior of structures subjected to earthquakes. To assist in this effort, the NSF requested the National Research Council(NRC) to frame the major questions to be addressed by and to develop a long-term research agenda for NEES. Preventing Earthquake Disasters presents an overview of the grand challenge including six critical research problems making up that challenge. The report also provides an assessment of earthquake engineering research issues and the role of information technology in that research effort, and a research plan for NEES.


Living on an Active Earth

Living on an Active Earth

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2003-09-22

Total Pages: 431

ISBN-13: 0309065623

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The destructive force of earthquakes has stimulated human inquiry since ancient times, yet the scientific study of earthquakes is a surprisingly recent endeavor. Instrumental recordings of earthquakes were not made until the second half of the 19th century, and the primary mechanism for generating seismic waves was not identified until the beginning of the 20th century. From this recent start, a range of laboratory, field, and theoretical investigations have developed into a vigorous new discipline: the science of earthquakes. As a basic science, it provides a comprehensive understanding of earthquake behavior and related phenomena in the Earth and other terrestrial planets. As an applied science, it provides a knowledge base of great practical value for a global society whose infrastructure is built on the Earth's active crust. This book describes the growth and origins of earthquake science and identifies research and data collection efforts that will strengthen the scientific and social contributions of this exciting new discipline.


Learning from Megadisasters

Learning from Megadisasters

Author: Federica Ranghieri

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2014-06-26

Total Pages: 391

ISBN-13: 1464801541

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While not all natural disasters can be avoided, their impact on a population can be mitigated through effective planning and preparedness. These are the lessons to be learned from Japan's own megadisaster: the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, the fi rst disaster ever recorded that included an earthquake, a tsunami, a nuclear power plant accident, a power supply failure, and a large-scale disruption of supply chains. It is a sad fact that poor communities are often hardest hit and take the longest to recover from disaster. Disaster risk management (DRM) should therefore be taken into account as a major development challenge, and countries must shift from a tradition of response to a culture of prevention and resilience. Learning from Megadisasters: Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake consolidates a set of 36 Knowledge Notes, research results of a joint study undertaken by the Government of Japan and the World Bank. These notes highlight key lessons learned in seven DRM thematic clusters—structural measures; nonstructural measures; emergency response; reconstruction planning; hazard and risk information and decision making; the economics of disaster risk, risk management, and risk fi nancing; and recovery and relocation. Aimed at sharing Japanese cutting-edge knowledge with practitioners and decision makers, this book provides valuable guidance to other disaster-prone countries for mainstreaming DRM in their development policies and weathering their own natural disasters.


Disaster Deferred

Disaster Deferred

Author: Seth Stein

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 023115139X

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Coinciding with the 200th anniversary of the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12, Disaster Deferred revisits these earthquakes, the legends that have grown around them, and the predictions of doom that have followed in their wake. Seth Stein clearly explains the techniques seismologists use to study Midwestern quakes and estimate their danger.


Directory of Northridge Earthquake Research

Directory of Northridge Earthquake Research

Author: Brian Cowan

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2000-07

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 0788187406

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This invitation conference, held Dec. 2 and 3, 1994, included earth scientists, engineers, social scientists, agency program managers, and practitioners and others who implement earthquake research. Chapters include: NSF-funded Northridge Earthquake researchers; summary of USGS Northridge supplementary funding; NIST Northridge research; FEMA Northridge research; organizational research programs: Calif. Div. of Mines and Geology, Calif. Seismic Safety Comm., EERI, NCEER, NHRAIC, Rand Critical Technologies Inst., and SAC Joint Venture; Info. Services: EERC-NISEE, NCEER Info. Services, and OES DFO; and individuals' research projects.


The Earthquake Observers

The Earthquake Observers

Author: Deborah R. Coen

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 0226111814

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Earthquakes have taught us much about our planet's hidden structure and the forces that have shaped it. This book explains how observing networks transformed an instant of panic and confusion into a field for scientific research, turning earthquakes into natural experiments at the nexus of the physical and human sciences.