In partnership with the Alaska Earthquake Center, join us September 24-26 in Anchorage for a special symposium on the 2018 M7.1 Anchorage earthquake! 

We are seeking poster abstracts on the following topics:

• Tectonics, Aftershocks, and Future Hazards
• Ground Motions – Observed and Predicted
• Geotechnical Engineering
• Structural Engineering
• Building Operations/Recovery
• Emergency Management & Response
• Recovery
• Public Health & Social Impacts
• Lifelines & Utilities

DEADLINE EXTENSION: The deadline for poster abstract submissions is Monday, August 26. To learn more about the process and submit your abstract, click here. For questions about poster presentations, please contact María Luisa Jiminián from EERI at maria@eeri.org. 

About the Symposium

The Nov. 30, 2018, M7.1 Anchorage earthquake in Southcentral Alaska was the most impactful earthquake in the U.S. in many years, presenting a major learning opportunity for the U.S. earthquake risk reduction community. At this symposium, you’ll get to connect with others in the field, hear the latest research, and access learning opportunities to stimulate new investigations and collaborations.

Drawing on local and national experts in a wide range of disciplines related to earthquake research and practice, the symposium will cover a wide range of topics, including but not limited to: seismology, geology, ground motion, structural and geotechnical engineering, lifelines, public health, emergency management and response, tsunami monitoring and modeling, school safety, and public policy. 

Learn more about the symposium here, including registration information, agenda, and logistics.

PS: Early-bird pricing ends August 31, so make sure to reserve your seat now!

Design for functional recovery is a necessary tool for assessing and improving community resilience. Broadly speaking, design for functional recovery means making two measures of design equally important: safety and recovery time. However, functional recovery concepts and design provisions are still nascent. 

EERI’s new white paper, Functional Recovery: A Conceptual Framework, offers an important first step: an expanded definition and conceptual framework for functional recovery that discusses its application to both buildings and lifeline infrastructure. This paper will inform a new NIST-FEMA working group mandated by recent national legislation and others considering new functional recovery standards and practices, including those involved in the implementation of California Assembly Bill 393, if passed. Click here to view or download the paper.

You can expect to hear more about this at the EERI Annual Meeting and National Earthquake Conference in March 2020.

Background

This white paper is in response to new language in the December 2018 reauthorization of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). This language, suggested to Senator Diane Feinstein by EERI’s PPA in 2018 and passed in the final version of the bill, calls for FEMA and NIST to convene experts to recommend “options for improving the built environment and critical infrastructure to reflect performance goals stated in terms of post-earthquake reoccupancy and functional recovery time” (42 U.S.C. § 7705(b); 2018 Senate Bill 176).

With this governmentally-mandated expert committee now launching, EERI’s PPA set about developing a white paper to outline a multidisciplinary perspective that (1) offers some background and definition of functional recovery in the context of community resilience, (2) identifies four key issue areas to be researched, developed, and discussed to clarify and refine this new performance target, and (3) explores how the current state of practice can be applied to future functional recovery goals. 

As a part of the development process, EERI’s Board of Directors felt that it was critical to forge consensus amongst technical experts. Towards this aim, EERI’s PPA collaborated with the Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC) on this white paper, and SEAOC has endorsed the structural engineering concepts of the paper. EERI plans to work with SEAOC to engage additional technical experts and organizations in the coming months.

EERI staff is now in Ridgecrest at the California Earthquake Clearinghouse physical location.

The physical location will open at 10 am and is at the following address:

California Earthquake Clearinghouse
Red Rock Canyon room
Kerr McGee Building
100 W California Avenue
Ridgecrest, CA
(near park entrance at the back of the parking lot, by Red Cross activities)

Our next Searles Valley earthquake briefing is Saturday, July 6 at 7 pm, late arrivals are welcome. We encourage everyone who is actively conducting field investigations to attend the briefing in person at the clearinghouse physical location.

How to contribute:

EERI members and other earthquake risk reduction professionals can contribute to reconnaissance efforts for this earthquake in the following ways:

1. Use the Fulcrum app to collect and share reconnaissance data

EERI members conducting reconnaissance are encouraged to collect data using the EERI reconnaissance data collection form in the Fulcrum app. To collect data through the EERI Fulcrum Community account, please sign up here. After signing up, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions about how to download the Fulcrum app on your phone (users are manually approved so there may be a short delay in receiving this email). To learn more about how to use the Fulcrum app, you can view a series of short tutorial videos here. 

If you have questions about using the Fulcrum app, please contact Maria Luisa Jiminian at maria@eeri.org. 

2. Inform EERI of your reconnaissance plans

If you will be participating as a part of a reconnaissance mission, recovery mission, or traveling to the impacted area for any other purpose, please contact Maggie Ortiz-Millan (maggie@eeri.org) to inform her of your timeline and travel details. EERI can help link you to others in the field, support you in efforts to share photos or observations, and connect you with the EERI team (if one is mobilized).

3. Volunteer with the Virtual Earthquake Reconnaissance team

Research specific topics to gain an understanding of the extent of damage in the region. VERT reports will be used to help inform the LFE Executive Committee’s response to this earthquake. Join VERT by signing up here.

4. Other ways to contribute

Earthquake investigators are encouraged to contact Maggie Ortiz-Millan (maggie@eeri.org) if they have suggestions about how they can contribute to this clearinghouse effort.

On July 4, 2019, a M6.4 earthquake struck near Ridgecrest, California. EERI is currently monitoring the situation from media reports and notes from colleagues in the impacted region as part of its Learning from Earthquakes program and is considering an EERI response.

EERI encourages its members to coordinate reconnaissance efforts through the California Earthquake Clearinghouse. EERI is one of the managing partners of the California Clearinghouse along with the California Geological Survey, USGS, the California Seismic Safety Commission, and the California Office of Emergency Services. As subject matter experts, EERI members can provide trusted observations of conditions in the field.

The California Earthquake Clearinghouse establishes a location (physical and virtual) to coordinate earthquake field investigations and share observations and knowledge. The engineering and scientific communities feed information to the Clearinghouse that can inform emergency managers during response and recovery. The physical location for the clearinghouse has not yet been established but more information will be posted soon on the EERI website. A California Clearinghouse Briefing will likely be scheduled this evening (both in-person and remote).

At this time, we welcome help in gathering and sharing links to media reports, information from earthquake professionals with field reports, or relevant technical literature. 

More information about the earthquake is available on the USGS website.

How to contribute:

EERI members and other earthquake risk reduction professionals can contribute to reconnaissance efforts for this earthquake in the following ways:

1. Use the Fulcrum app to collect and share reconnaissance data

EERI members conducting reconnaissance are encouraged to collect data using the EERI reconnaissance data collection form in the Fulcrum app. To collect data through the EERI Fulcrum Community account, please sign up here. After signing up, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions about how to download the Fulcrum app on your phone (users are manually approved so there may be a short delay in receiving this email). To learn more about how to use the Fulcrum app, you can view a series of short tutorial videos here. 

If you have questions about using the Fulcrum app, please contact Maria Luisa Jiminian at maria@eeri.org.

2. Inform EERI of your reconnaissance plans

If you will be participating as a part of a reconnaissance mission, recovery mission, or traveling to the impacted area for any other purpose, please contact Maggie Ortiz-Millan (maggie@eeri.org) to inform her of your timeline and travel details. EERI can help link you to others in the field, support you in efforts to share photos or observations, and connect you with the EERI team (if one is mobilized).

3. Volunteer with the Virtual Earthquake Reconnaissance team

Research specific topics to gain an understanding of the extent of damage in the region. VERT reports will be used to help inform the LFE Executive Committee’s response to this earthquake. Join VERT by signing up here.

4. Other ways to contribute

Earthquake investigators are encouraged to contact Maggie Ortiz-Millan (maggie@eeri.org) if they have suggestions about how they can contribute to this clearinghouse effort.

EERI’s School Earthquake Safety Initiative (SESI) is pleased to share a new PowerPoint template that EERI members and other school safety advocates can use in their presentations to stakeholders, including parent organizations, school boards, community leaders, and local and state agencies. You can download this resource here (direct download, PPTX) or from the SESI website.

This PowerPoint stems from SESI’s commitment to create and share knowledge and tools that will enable progressive, informed decision-making around school safety. The goal of the PowerPoint is to provide EERI members and other advocates with a new tool to describe the school safety issues of their local community, including parent organizations, school boards, community leaders and decision-makers, and local and state agencies. The PowerPoint introduces EERI and SESI, describes what the specific earthquake hazard and school vulnerability issues are in the community, what can happen in an earthquake, which types of buildings are most vulnerable (such as URM), the impact and risk of nonstructural component failures, disruption to the community due to damaged schools, and what steps can be taken to improve school safety.

SESI leverages the extensive expertise of its members to conduct regionally-appropriate actions that can make a tangible and positive difference in communities around the world. One approach is to engage school safety advocates in communicating with a wide range of stakeholders to recognize and prioritize the importance of school safety before, during, and after earthquakes. Hazardous schools exist throughout the U.S. and globally. The majority of the school districts where such hazardous schools exist are already challenged by competing economic needs and limited resources.

We hope that EERI members and school safety advocates will use this PowerPoint to initiate meaningful communication with the appropriate decision-makers in their local community. Once that communication link has been established, SESI is happy to provide resources and assistance to any school safety advocate to move the process forward.

Submit an abstract today to help us shape the 2020 National Earthquake Conference (NEC) program agenda! The NEC Program Committee is seeking presentation abstracts and session concepts for the 2020 NEC from March 4-6 in San Diego, CA. The EERI’s 72nd Annual Meeting will occur as an integral part of the 2020 NEC. 

To accommodate strong interests related to the Searles Valley earthquakes, we’ve extended the deadline to Friday, July 26. Topics in all other topics are welcome as well.

Proposals are welcome in four areas:

• Engineering – to showcase the latest research, technologies, methodologies, and tools for improved earthquake risk reduction for the built environment; and to share effective design solutions and case studies
• Science – to highlight scientific advances and products that support preparedness, response, recovery and/or mitigation;
• Policy – to advance resilience through strong building codes, smart finance, marketplace incentive programs, tax benefits, innovative legislation, smart home technology, and;
• Practice – to facilitate implementation of effective seismic risk reduction activities and practices by advocates, building and fire code officials, communicators, emergency managers, insurance professionals, journalists, leaders, merchants, product manufacturers, public officials, and other critical stakeholders.

Don’t forget to submit your application here by Friday, July 26!

EERI is saddened to share news that Lloyd Cluff (M.EERI,1968) passed away on June 4, 2019. Lloyd was a renowned earthquake geologist, as well as an influential, longtime member of EERI and served as its president from 1993 to 1995.

Born and raised in Provo, Utah, Lloyd was an avid and skilled climber and skier. He came across geology, however, by chance. While studying animal husbandry at Brigham Young University, he was drafted into the army and sent to Alaska as an instructor in the U.S. Army Arctic Indoctrination School to train officers how to survive in high mountains. It was there on the Alaska Range that Lloyd realized the possibility of a career path in physical geology. Upon discharge from the army in 1956, he attended the University of Utah, majoring in geology. Lloyd conducted his first earthquake investigation in 1959 after the Hebgen Lake, Montana, event. Thereafter, learning from earthquakes became a lifelong obsession.

After graduating in 1960, Lloyd joined Woodward-Clyde Consultants (WCC) in Oakland, California, as a field geologist. Over his 25-year career at WCC, Lloyd served as its Director, Vice-President, and Principal Geologist. In 1985, Lloyd joined Pacific Gas and Electric Company to lead its Geosciences Department. After 27 years, he retired in 2011 from PG&E, where he was Director of the Earthquake Risk Management Program. Over the course of his career, Lloyd worked on some of the most critical facilities in the world, including the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, the Aswan High Dam, the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, and the Panama Canal.

“Lloyd was a pioneer in modern earth science during a period of vast intellectual change in that arena,” said Tom Tobin, EERI 2011-2012 President. “His interdisciplinary approach, optimistic style, and willingness to tackle challenges allowed him to work with engineers, politicians, and other earth scientists with ease; he was as comfortable in the boardroom as he was in the field.” 

Throughout his tremendous career, Lloyd received many recognitions and accolades. He was the 2003 recipient of the William B. Joyner Memorial Lecture Award for his role in the interface between earthquake science and engineering and public policy, jointly awarded by EERI and the Seismological Society of America. In 2009, Lloyd received EERI’s George W. Housner Medal for his excellent work in the application of geologic knowledge, and his support of effective public policies to reduce earthquake risks and hazards throughout the world.

“Lloyd was especially adept at navigating and communicating at the interface of science, engineering, and policy,” said Laurie Johnson, current EERI President. “His rare combination of skills and passion will be greatly missed.”

We extend our deepest condolences to Lloyd’s family, friends, and colleagues. Please click here to read Lloyd’s full obituary.

At our annual meeting this year, EERI officially launched a landmark campaign to raise $4 million to pave the way for a robust and dynamic Learning from Earthquakes (LFE) for generations to come. The LFE endowment campaign will enable the program to become financially sustainable, expand earthquake reconnaissance efforts, develop innovative programming, and invest in the next generation of leaders.

As of June 15, we’ve raised a total of $1.6 million — $781,200 in cash pledges and $845,000 in planned giving from a total of 38 donors! We’re incredibly grateful to the generosity and leadership of our donors. Click here to see the most updated list of donors.

If you haven’t had a chance to pledge yet, please consider doing so by July 31 to receive a special distinction of LFE Endowment Founding Benefactor! For more information about the campaign, please click here.