Learning from Earthquakes

EERI Response to M6.2 Earthquake in Italy on August 24, 2016

On Wednesday, August 24, an M6.2 earthquake struck 10 km southeast of Norcia, Italy (1:36 a.m. local time). The EERI community extends its sympathy to the victims as rescue and relief work continues. 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 (LFE). 

Call for Applicants for Reconnaissance Mission: The LFE Executive Committee is exploring assembling a reconnaissance team of EERI members with knowledge, experience, and interest in the affected area. EERI members should use the LFE team member application form to indicate their interest in participating on a possible EERI reconnaissance team today Thursday, September 1, 2016 by 5:00 p.m. Pacific time. An applicant’s fluency in Italian and ability to share the cost of travel expenses may be a key criteria in selection. https://www.eeri.org/cohost/registration/lfe-member-application 

EERI has launched a virtual earthquake clearinghouse website to archive earthquake data and post observations from this event. Information will be posted as it becomes available, so please check back frequently: http://www.eqclearinghouse.org/2016-08-24-italy/ 

Any members with information about earthquake impacts or who plan to conduct reconnaissance should contact EERI LFE coordinator Shizza Fatima at shizza@eeri.org

News of the Institute

2016 Shah Family Innovation Prize: Call for Nominations

Do you know a young academic or professional making a difference in reducing global earthquake risk? EERI members are encouraged to nominate candidates from government, private firms, academia, and the international community for the 2016 Shah Family Innovation Prize.

The Shah Family Innovation Prize was created with a substantial gift to the EERI Endowment Fund by the Haresh C. Shah family of Stanford, California. The intent of the prize is to stimulate further creativity and leadership in the earthquake risk mitigation community and EERI.

The selection process recognizes a combination of past accomplishments and future potential, emphasizing creative and innovative thinkers who have demonstrated at early stages in their careers the potential to make major contributions. EERI membership is not required for either the nominator or candidate, although it is strongly encouraged. Candidates must be less than 35 years of age on January 1, 2017.

Submit your nominations for the Shah Family Innovation Prize online by November 15, 2016 at https://www.eeri.org/cohost/registration/2016-shah-prize-nominations 

For more information about the required nomination package, selection criteria, and past winners, visit https://www.eeri.org/about-eeri/honors-awards/shah-family-innovation-prize/ 

The 2016 Shah Family Innovation Prize Selection Committee: Patricia Grossi, Independent Consultant (Chair); Jack Baker, Stanford University; Stacy Bartoletti, Degenkolb Engineers; Glenn Rix, Geosyntec Consultants; and Emily So, University of Cambridge.

2017 EERI Board Election: Meet the Candidates

The following candidates have been nominated for the 2017 EERI Board of Directors. EERI members will vote for their candidates from October 1 to November 1, 2016.

Director A:
Brent A. Maxfield, Structural Engineer, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, UT (M. EERI, 2005)
Barry H. Welliver, Structural Engineer, BHW Engineers, Draper, UT (M. EERI, 2002)

Director B:
John G. Anderson, Professor, Seismological Lab, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, NV (M. EERI, 1980)
William "Woody" Savage, Geophysicist/Professor, USGS/ University of Nevada-Las Vegas, NV (M. EERI, 1975)

A full list of the candidates' biographies and vision statements is available at https://www.eeri.org/2016/08/2017-eeri-board-election-meet-the-candidates/

EERI members will be notified via email with voting instructions, including a unique link to an online ballot.

EERI Endowment Donors

EERI would like to thank donors to the Endowment Fund and acknowledge their recent contributions. EERI’s Endowment supports innovative projects that assure the Institute’s continuing leadership in the earthquake engineering profession.

The list below reflects donations that the Institute received from August 11-30, 2016.

Thank you for your support!

News of the Profession

Links to Recent News and Views

Ten recent stories, reports, or opinions from around the Web:

Italy earthquake: investigation launched as nation mourns (The Guardian) Remains of Amatrice school, rebuilt four years ago, becomes a crime scene. theguardian.com 

'Eerily similar' earthquake hit Italian region in 2009 (CNN) Comparing the effects and challenges between the Amatrice and L'Aquila earthquakes. cnn.com 

Destruction from Italy quake a grave warning for California's old brick buildings (Los Angeles Times) "People resist because they’re beautifully, culturally treasured buildings. But they kill people." latimes.com 

On the Los Angeles Seismic Retrofit Ordinance (Lexology) Gordon & Rees LLP review the new law to improve seismic resiliency in LA. lexology.com 

Nearly 200 ancient pagodas damaged in Burma quake (Toronto Star) At least four people were killed and as many as 185 brick pagodas were damaged. thestar.com 

BC Hydro worried fracking-created earthquakes a danger to northern dams (Vancouver Sun) Five-kilometer buffer zones created around British Columbia dams where no new fracking and drilling rights are issued. vancouversun.com 

Turkey's first earthquake museum a reminder of deadly temblors (Daily Sabah) A memorial to victims of 1999 quake and a message for better preparation. dailysabah.com 

Oklahoma on the right course in addressing earthquakes (The Oklahoman) Oklahoma had experienced 110 fewer magnitude-3.0 and greater earthquakes this year than it had during the same period of time in 2015. newsok.com 

5.2 magnitude earthquake in Peru kills 9 and injures 40 (PRI) The quake caused damage throughout an area of Arequipa called the Colca Valley, and several villages have been cut off. pri.org 

2014 Napa earthquake continued to creep, weeks after main shock (MIT News) “Afterslip” caused sections of the main fault to shift by as much as 40 centimeters in the month following the main earthquake. news.mit.edu 

2017 EERI Annual Meeting

Save the Dates: 2017 EERI Annual Meeting

Carmen Merlo (M. EERI, 2013) from the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management is leading an energized local community planning EERI's 69th Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon, March 7-10, 2017. The meeting theme is tentatively titled "The Really Big One: Road to Resilience," inspired by the recent renewed attention on the risks posed by the Pacific Northwest's Cascadia Subduction Zone.

Tours, technical workshops, and a "Portland Day" to bring local officials, policy makers, and agency representatives to the meeting are all being planned. In addition to Merlo, members of the local organizing committee include Joseph Gehlen (M. EERI, 1990), Mike Hagerty (M. EERI, 1990), Sandra Hyde (M. EERI, 2011), Leon Kempner Jr. (M. EERI, 1994), Arash Khosravifar, Amit Kumar, Ines Pearce, Franz Rad (M. EERI, 1995), Nicholas Rillstone (M. EERI, 2014), Jeff Rubin, Elizabeth Safran, Scott Schlechter (M. EERI, 2000), Pascal Schuback, Yumei Wang (M. EERI, 1989), Barry Welliver (M. EERI, 2002), Jay Wilson (M. EERI, 2011), Kenji Yamasaki (M. EERI, 2012), Harry Yeh (M. EERI, 1993), and Kent Yu (M. EERI, 1997).

Save the dates on your calendar to join us in March. More details on program, registration, hotel and travel will be announced soon.

Chapter Spotlight

Save the Date: San Diego Workshop Honoring Professor Kenji Ishihara

The EERI San Diego Chapter, the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Extension, and the Geo-Institute San Diego Chapter are organizing the 2nd Workshop on Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering with the topic "Dealing with the Consequences of Liquefaction" and honoring Professor Kenji Ishihara. The workshop will take place at UCSD on Wednesday-Thursday, March 29-30, 2017.

The workshop will honor the lifetime achievements and contributions of Professor Kenji Ishihara to the field of geotechnical earthquake engineering, with the afternoon session of the second day of the workshop entirely devoted to honor Professor Ishihara and hosted by Professor I.M. Idriss (M. EERI, 1972).

Distinguished speakers from the United States, Japan, New Zealand, Europe, and South America will share experiences with liquefaction mitigation, recent major earthquakes, and highlighting the contributions of Professor Ishihara. Plans for preparing the final program and the website are underway and a one-day short course before the workshop on Tuesday, March 28, is also being considered.

Mark your calendars and save the dates. Questions, feedback, and sponsorship interest should be directed to the Chair of the Organizing Committee, Dr. Jorge Meneses (M. EERI, 2006) at jmenesesl@gmail.com.

Announcements

Build Change Seeks Engineering Program Associate

Build Change , a non‐profit social enterprise whose mission is to save lives in earthquakes and hurricanes, has an opening for the position of Engineering Program Associate. The successful candidate will provide expertise, mentorship, and quality assurance to programs and projects globally.

Be excited by the opportunity to work on location for up to three months at a time, sometimes in a post-disaster setting, within Latin America, the Caribbean, and South/Southeast Asia. Applications will be accepted until filled. Qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Visit http://www.buildchange.org/about/careers  and click on the link for this position.

Webinar Series: The Case for Resilient Design

The United States Resiliency Council and Clark Pacific have teamed up to produce a complimentary Webinar Series: "The Case for Resilient Design." The series will feature industry experts on:

• The value of resilient based design

• How to easily & efficiently predict building performance

• Real world examples of resilient designed projects

• Financial return and why resilience is good for business

The first webinar will be on Thursday, September 14, 2016, 11:00 a.m., Pacific time. For webinar topics, dates, and registration information, visit http://www.clarkpacific.com/product/resilient-design 

PEER Seeks Associate Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives

Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER) seeks applications for candidates for the position of Associate Director for Operation and Strategic Initiatives (ADOSI). The ADOSI provides oversight to the activities of PEER’s experimental testing facilities at the Berkeley Global Campus at Richmond Bay, its library, outreach activities, and financial and business management.

The ADOSI is charged with initiating and managing, in conjunction with other senior managers, the strategic long-term planning efforts to enhance PEER’s experimental testing facilities, library and outreach services, and to manage PEER’s finances and business model development and evaluation.

To be successful in this position, the ADOSI must have a broad balance of industrial business and technical expertise as well as experience in a world-class research or business organization. This experience shall be demonstrated through a record of accomplishment as a recognized industrial technology leader or academic professional in the engineering and/or research field.

More information on the position and how to apply at http://peer.berkeley.edu/news/2016/08/peer-job-announcement-associate-director-operations-and-strategic-initiatives/ 

Publications

Earthquake Spectra: August 2016 Issue

The August 2016 issue of Earthquake Spectra (volume 32, issue 3) is now available online at http://earthquakespectra.org/toc/eqsa/32/3 

Print copies of the new issue of Earthquake Spectra have been mailed, and you may order additional copies at https://www.eeri.org/earthquake-spectra/ 

Highlights of this issue include the research manuscripts "Quantifying Directional Dependencies from Infrastructure Restoration Data" by Conrad R. Zorn (M. EERI, 2015) and Asaad Y. Shamseldin; "Quintuple Friction Pendulum Isolator: Behavior, Modeling, and Validation" by Donghun Lee (M. EERI, 2015) and Michael C. Constantinou; "Out-of-Plane Dynamic Stability of Unreinforced Masonry Walls in One-Way Bending: Shake Table Testing" by Osmar Penner (M. EERI, 2016) and Kenneth J. Elwood (M. EERI, 1994); and the data paper "Centrifuge Testing of Model Levees atop Peat: Experimental Data" by Anne Lemnitzer (M. EERI. 2006), Riccardo Cappa (M. EERI, 2014), Samuel Yniesta, and Scott Brandenberg (M. EERI, 2001).

If you have questions about this, or any issue, contact Managing Editor Liz Stalnaker at liz@eeri.org

New Edition of Dynamics of Structures Published

A fifth edition of the 1995 textbook Dynamics of Structures: Theory and Applications to Earthquake Engineering by Anil K. Chopra (M. EERI, 1973) is now published and available from Pearson Education publishers.

This new edition features a major expansion, revision, and update of many chapters. Additions, some motivated by the increasing use of nonlinear response history analyses (RHAs) of buildings in professional practice, include selection and modification of recorded ground motions to define the excitations for which seismic demands on structures are to be determined by nonlinear RHAs. Also included are a response-spectrum-based method to estimate principal stresses in continuum structures, such as concrete dams; recent data on damping ratios determined by system-identification analysis of motions of 203 buildings recorded during earthquakes; and many new figures, several worked-out examples, and end-of-chapter problems.

Information on the new edition and ordering can be found at https://www.pearsonhighered.com/program/Chopra-Dynamics-of-Structures-5th-Edition/PGM1101746.html 

Spectra Editor Jonathan Stewart on Impact Factor and Publication Queue Update

I am pleased to announce that Earthquake Spectra's Impact Factor for 2015 is 2.298, and the five-year Impact Factor is 1.932. These numbers place Spectra’s impact near the top among earthquake engineering journals. Our thanks go to the authors, Editorial Board members, and reviewers who have made this improvement possible.

I would also like to provide an update on the Publication Queue Time editorial  published June 29, 2015. At that time, the maximum acceptance-to-publication time for manuscripts was 20 months. In order to reduce the backlog and publication queue time, we have published significantly larger issues for the 2015 and 2016 volumes. As a result of this effort, the queue time was reduced to 7 to 11 months for the August 2016 issue. With the November 2016 issue, the queue time will be 4 to 8 months, and we are on target to meet our goal of a 3-to-6 month queue time beginning with the February 2017 issue.

Earthquake Spectra: Preprint Manuscripts

Three preprint manuscripts have been posted to the Earthquake Spectra website prior to formal publication. The papers to be published are:

• "Building typologies prevalent in Northern Pakistan and their performance during the 2015 Hindu Kush Earthquake" by Najif Ismail (M. EERI, 2015) and Nouman Khattak
• "Quantifying the Reduction in Collapse Safety of Mainshock-Damaged Reinforced Concrete Frames with Infills" by Henry V. Burton (M. EERI, 2011) and Mayank Sharma (M. EERI, 2015)
• "Earthquake Damage Estimations: ShakeCast Case Study on Nevada Bridges" by Glenn Biasi (M. EERI, 2015), Mohammed Saeed Mohammed (M. EERI, 2013) and David H. Sanders (M. EERI, 1994)

To read all current preprint manuscripts posted, visit Earthquake Spectra preprints.

Member Spotlight

Welcome New EERI Members

EERI welcomes the members who have recently joined the Institute. If you wish to connect with your fellow members, you can locate their contact information in the EERI online membership directory, which requires logging in to the Member Resources Area of the EERI website.

STUDENT MEMBERS
Amedebrhan Asfaw, University of Virginia, Civil
Yanjinlkham Karam, California State University Sacramento, Civil
Rimjhim Kashyap, SUNY Buffalo
William Key, University of Memphis, Civil
Jalal Kiani, University of Memphis, Civil
Shauna Lee, University of Memphis, Civil
Sepehr Movaghati, University of Memphis, Civil
Samantha Penta, University of Delaware, Social Science
Kyle Polczynski, Virginia Tech
Yasamin Rafie-Nazari, University of Ottawa, Risk Analysis
Arash Yarahmadi, University of Memphis, Civil
Chunyu Zhang, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, Civil