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Strong Motion Committee

The EERI Strong Motion Committee - where it's been and where it's going

The EERI Strong Motion Committee held its annual forum at the EERI 2002 Annual meeting in Long Beach, on February 8th. The meeting, chaired by Marcia McLaren, was open to all Annual meeting participants. Attendance, at 30+, was excellent.

Presentations were on various aspects of strong motion, including updates on ANSS, COSMOS, ShakeMap, a PG&E/USGS building project for direct displacement recording, and reports on two new projects; the ATC-54 Guidelines for rapid use of strong motion information, and a new Internet Quick Report from the TriNet/CISN Engineering Strong Motion Data Center. The diversity of the presentations shows how the uses of strong motion data have broadened and are providing multiple benefits to earthquake engineering.

Historically, the committee has provided EERI members the opportunity to share ideas and projects related to strong motion instrumentation at the annual meetings. The guidelines of the committee are:

1. To encourage the continued development, expansion, and the maintenance of strong motion instrument deployment in the United States and other strategic locations throughout the world,
   

2. Recommend uniform standards for the processing and interpretation of strong motion records and advise on how the data can be related to the performance of structures and the preparation of design criteria and
   

3. Recommend methods for dissemination of data, including educational programs and seminars.
   
   

For many years the committee focused on the first two guidelines; most of the forum presentations were specific to instrumentation, primarily accelerometers, and the data they recorded. There were discussions of the need for better data dissemination, but few ideas surfaced.

With the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web, however, the possibilities for data dissemination dramatically increased. The subsequent development of online tools and databases such as ShakeMap, HAZUS, and COSMOS, and soon-to-be completed projects such as the TriNet/CISN Internet Quick Report, and the ATC-54 guidelines, have given the engineering community the ability to quickly respond to earthquakes and evaluate structures for immediate decision-making.

In addition to providing a communication setting through the annual Forum for these varied topics, the Strong Motion Committee has taken a stand in support of COSMOS, (The Consortium of Strong Motion Observation Systems), a non-profit organization, whose mission is “To expand and modernize significantly the acquisition and application of strong-motion data in order to increase public safety from earthquakes”. Last year the Strong Motion Committee requested and obtained approval from the EERI Board an annual contribution of $5000 to COSMOS.

In an effort to reach out beyond the EERI meetings, the committee is considering taking our 2002 presentations “on the road” to structural engineering associations, such as SEAONC, and local government groups, such as ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments) that could attract planners, social scientists and building owners.

Finally, to be consistent with the expanding uses of strong motion data, the Committee voted to change its name from the original Strong Motion Instrumentation Committee to the Strong Motion Committee. Likewise, the annual committee meeting was changed from the Strong Motion Instrumentation Forum to the Strong Motion Forum. This change was accepted by the EERI Board at their March 11, 2002 meeting.

For a complete summary of the 2002 Strong Motion meeting, URLs of the groups mentioned in this article, or any other questions, please email Marcia McLaren at mkm2@pge.com.