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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and
Risk Management
Crisis and Emergency Management
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NOTICE: The ICDRM's monthly emergency managment forum, held at the GWU |
| February
2003
Volume 4 - Number 1 |
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Links:
Current events
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Report: The 25th Anniversary of National Earthquake
Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP)
by Sarp Yeletaysi
NEHRP was established by the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 to “reduce the risks of life and property from future earthquakes in the U.S” In 1980, the act was amended to include the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST, then the National Bureau of Standards) and to designate the newly created Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as the lead agency. The roles of the four agencies were further clarified in the 1990 NEHRP Reauthorization Act, which cast their primary responsibilities as follows: · FEMA coordinates the NEHRP program, plans and manages federal response to earthquakes, funds state and local preparedness exercises, supports seismic design and construction techniques for new buildings and retrofit guidelines for existing buildings. · USGS conducts and supports earth science investigations into the origins of earthquakes, predicts earthquake effects, characterizes earthquake hazards, and disseminates earth science information. · NSF funds earthquake engineering research, basic earth science research, and earthquake related social science. · NIST conducts and supports engineering studies to improve seismic provisions of building codes, standards, and practices for buildings and lifelines. Congress reauthorizes the program at intervals of one to three years, most recently for FY 2001 ($100.5 million), FY 2002 ($105.8 million) and FY 2003 ($110.3 million). The split among the agencies for FY 2001 is 48% (USGS), 30% (NSF), 20% (FEMA), and 2% (NIST). The President’s budget request for FY 2003 is $117.9 million. Appropriation for NEHRP has declined significantly in constant dollars since the late 1970s. (http://books.nap.edu/books/0309065623/html/351.html#pagetop) NSF's George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) is a NEHRP project currently under construction through FY 2004 that will provide a national cyber-network resource for earthquake engineering and hazard mitigation. Expected contributions of all NEHRP agencies are presented in “Expanding and Using Knowledge to Reduce Earthquake Losses: The National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Strategic Plan 2001-2005" (NSF FY 2003 GPRA Final Performance Plan) Congress authorized funding for the Advanced National Seismic System from FY 2002 through FY 2006. The authorized funding level for FY 2002 is $33.5 million; this amount stays relatively constant through FY 2006 for a five-year total of $170 million. In FY 01, the USGS will spend $3.6 million on the Advanced National Seismic System. (http://www.house.gov/science/research/mar21/res_charter_032101.htm) The Congress authorized a total of $464.7M for FY2001-2003 for NEHRP programs. (http://www.nist.gov/hearings/2001/quakes.htm) Research priorities of USGS for FY 2003 under the NEHRP have been announced as: · Earthquake Hazards Assessments - Products for Earthquake Loss Reduction · Earthquake Physics and Effects The six regional areas, where research related to the topics mentioned above is to be conducted are: 1- Southern California (SC): From the Carrizo Plain south to the international border with Mexico 2- Northern California (NC): From Cape Mendocino to Parkfield, including the San Francisco Bay Area 3- Pacific Northwest (PN): Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California north of Cape Mendocino(Cascadia) and Alaska 4- Central and Eastern United States (CE): The United States east of the Rocky Mountains 5- National / Intermountain West (NIW): This panel is focused on seismically active regions of the Intermountain West and also addresses proposals specific to the National Seismic Hazards Maps 6- Earthquake Physics and Effects (EP): Basic and applied research on the physics of earthquakes and their effects that is generic and has a demonstrable application to reducing earthquake losses in many geographic areas. (USGS Research Priorities for FY 2003, attachment A) Related Websites: http://www.nist.gov/hearings/2001/quakes.htm http://www.usgs.gov/contracts/nehrp/nehrp03pa.pdf http://books.nap.edu/books/0309065623/html/351.html#pagetop http://www.nsf.gov/search97cgi/vtopic http://mceer.buffalo.edu/infoService/enews/issues/0212/articles.asp http://www.usgs.gov/features/nehrp.html http://www.house.gov/science/research/mar21/res_charter_032101.htm http://www.eeri.org/Publications/newsletter/May99/May99.html |