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Seismic Waves: Keeping Up Bridges in the New Madrid Seismic Zone
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. "During the winter of 1811--1812, three of the most powerful earthquakes in U.S. history occurred in the region now known as the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). The fault system that generated these historic quakes extends for 150 miles along both sides of the Mississippi River from the southern tip of Illinois to near Memphis, Tennessee. Today, the 125,000-square-mile area considered most at risk from NMSZ seismicity contains 12 million residents and some 200 cities. With the region bisected from north to south by the Mississippi River, bridges are some of the most important and seismically vulnerable segments of the area's transportation network. Yet the majority of bridges in the region were designed with little or no seismic consideration.1 Federal and State agencies have begun to examine and respond to this vulnerability in recent decades, prompted not only by greater understanding of seismic hazards in the NMSZ, but also by growing appreciation of the impact that bridge failures could have on emergency response and recovery efforts and on local, regional, and national commerce. Efforts undertaken have included incorporating seismic design into new bridges, assessing and addressing the need to retrofit existing bridges, and installing seismic monitoring systems on selected bridges. Monitoring how bridges respond to earthquakes is crucial to bridge safety because it provides the data needed to guide design and retrofit efforts. Although data are available from bridges monitored in other regions, these data are not necessarily applicable to bridges in the NMSZ. Differences in the soils and bedrock that overlie faults mean that the same type of bridge can behave differently in Missouri, for example, than in California. However, two major monitoring projects are beginning to generate the kinds of area-specific data needed to better protect bridges in the NMSZ."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2008-03
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Seismic Waves: The Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center: A Decade of Achievement
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "In a perfect world, every building would be fully protected against earthquake hazards. In the real world, trade-offs must be made between safety, durability, and cost. These determinations have often been made unconsciously, by default, or on the basis of very limited information. This has begun to change, however, thanks to the efforts of the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER). Headquartered at the University of California, Berkeley, PEER is a center for multidisciplinary earthquake engineering research and education. Fifteen universities located in California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington participate in PEER, nine as core institutions and six as educational affiliates. Researchers and students from other campuses also participate in PEER-sponsored research and educational activities. The Center was established in 1997 through funding by the National Science Foundation (NSF, a NEHRP agency) and the State of California."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2008-02
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Seismic Waves: FEMA Advances Efforts to Reduce Earthquake Losses Through Performance-Based Seismic Design
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. "The work done by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in preventing and mitigating losses before disaster strikes is as important and far-reaching as are its post-disaster services. This is especially true for earthquakes, where FEMA is steadily supporting advancements in mitigation to help prepare the Nation for these potentially devastating disasters. FEMA has reached another milestone in these efforts with the recent publication of Interim Testing Protocols for Determining the Seismic Performance Characteristics of Structural and Nonstructural Components (FEMA 461). For the first time, this publication provides methodologies to determine the seismic performance of a building's structural or nonstructural components in a consistent and comparable manner."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2008-04
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Seismic Waves: Map Your Neighborhood
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. "The Northridge earthquake shook the greater Los Angeles area at 4:30 a.m. on January 17, 1994. At the Northridge Meadows apartment complex, the first floor of a building collapsed, killing 16 occupants and trapping others. Neighborhood volunteers began search and rescue efforts, and 'by the time fire and rescue teams arrived, as many as 180 occupants had already gotten out of the building on their own or with the aid of their neighbors.' Such reports of spontaneous altruism and self-help are common following disasters. Generally, it seems, people want to help their neighbors in these situations. How well they can and do help varies, however. Common sense suggests that persons who have prepared in advance for disasters are more likely to know what needs to be done and how to do it--and to do it in a timely manner--than are those caught unprepared. This is the rationale behind the award-winning Map Your Neighborhood (MYN) program implemented by the State of Washington's Emergency Management Division (EMD)."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2008-05
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Seismic Waves: The NEHRP 'Recommended Provisions' and the National Model Building Codes: How NEHRP Interacts with the Code-Making Bodies
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). "There is no single mandatory national building code or standard for designing and constructing buildings and other structures in the United States. Building codes are adopted and enforced by individual States, by local jurisdictions within the States, or by both State and local authorities. State or local building codes are usually based on a 'model' building code or other voluntary consensus standards. State and local governments may either directly adopt the model code or adopt the code with amendments. Today, the model building code that is predominantly adopted in the United States is the 'International Building Code' (IBC), which is promulgated by the International Code Council (ICC). The ICC also promulgates other model codes that impact the building process, such as the 'International Residential Code' (IRC). In addition to the IBC and IRC, some localities have adopted the 'NFPA 5000 Building Construction and Safety Code', which is promulgated by the National Fire Protection Association."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2007-06
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Seismic Waves: Ensuring That When the Ground Starts Shaking, Bridges Can Bend Without Breaking
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). "'[The bridge] felt like it was oscillating a little bit, and we saw the road rise up in front of us before we fell.' 'The feeling is kind of a free-fall feeling at [an] amusement-park ride.' Those were the comments of two survivors of the Mississippi River bridge collapse that occurred in Minneapolis on August 1, 2007.1 Although earthquakes were not involved in that tragedy, they have destroyed highway bridges in the recent past. The Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 collapsed a freeway viaduct in Oakland, California, killing 42 motorists, and in 1994, the Northridge earthquake irreparably damaged 10 bridges in Southern California. The Minneapolis collapse again spotlighted the costly and potentially tragic consequences of bridge failures. The disaster claimed 13 lives and is expected to cost nearly $400 million. Earthquake-related bridge failures can be doubly disastrous, since they not only endanger drivers during the quake, but also hamper emergency response and recovery efforts afterwards. Since the 1970s, however, engineers have made considerable progress in learning how to reduce the vulnerability of the nation's more than 600,000 bridges to earthquake damage. Now, a major research project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF [National Science Foundation], a NEHRP agency) through grant award CMMI-0420347 is further advancing these efforts."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2007-11
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Seismic Waves: FEMA Homebuilders' Guide to Earthquake-Resistant Design and Construction
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). "Under the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [...], the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) works to reduce the ever-increasing risks to people and property posed by earthquakes and related hazards in the United States. Preventing losses by designing and constructing buildings to withstand anticipated earthquake forces is one of the key components of mitigation and one of the most effective ways of reducing the costs of future disasters. As part of its mitigation responsibilities under NEHRP, FEMA develops, publishes, and disseminates technical guidance on the design and construction of earthquake-resistant structures. One- and two-family dwellings have traditionally performed fairly well in earthquakes because of their relative lightness and regular shape, and, as a result, little technical guidance on the earthquake-resistant design and construction of these dwellings has been developed. While one- and two-family houses typically do not collapse in earthquakes, recent events have shown that they can sustain significant damage and be rendered uninhabitable. This is especially true when sufficient attention is not paid to construction details and when contemporary design dictates the use of large expanses of windows and irregular footprints. Given the sheer number of these buildings in the United States, even minor earthquake damage to houses can result in significant aggregate loss and heavy demand for temporary housing."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2007-10
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Seismic Waves: Bringing Cutting-Edge Science to Nonstructural Mitigation
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). "What images come to mind when you think of buildings damaged by earthquakes? Chances are, you see building exteriors with cracked or crumbled walls and collapsed floors or roofs. Perhaps because of the power required to produce it and the fears that it inspires, structural damage has long attracted the attention of photographers, the public, and earthquake engineers. Structural components--foundations, columns, beams, floors, load-bearing walls--are, after all, the elements that can hold buildings up or bring them crashing down. Damage to other, nonstructural parts of buildings, including their contents, has garnered much less attention. The University at Buffalo (UB), part of the State University of New York, has taken a significant step toward changing that, however. With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF, a NEHRP agency), the university has developed a first-of-its-kind seismic testing system, the Nonstructural Component Simulator (NCS), to make available state-of-the-art testing capabilities for nonstructural components and equipment."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2007-09
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Seismic Waves: Unearthing the Secrets of the San Andreas: A NEHRP-Related Success Story
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). "Thoughts of standing atop an active fault can conjure primal fears and imaginings--of, for example, the ground falling open like a trapdoor and dropping like a rock into the deep, dark recesses of the earth. For centuries, native peoples living near present-day Seattle appear to have associated local faults with equally alarming imagery, passing down cautionary tales about a huge and dangerous serpent, a'yahos, that could arise in certain locations to shake the earth and cause landslides. Although scientists who study earthquakes now know that such images are inaccurate, faults have remained largely mysterious and unreachable. That is beginning to change, however, thanks to a scientific investigation under way on California's infamous San Andreas Fault. And in an eerie coincidence, a greenish mineral called serpentine (a name derived from the Latin word 'serpentinus', which means 'resembling a serpent') is figuring prominently in this project."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2007-12
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Seismic Waves: ShakeMap and ShakeCast
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). "In the immediate aftermath of a damaging earthquake, lives and property may hang in the balance as emergency personnel assess and respond to the disaster. The ShakeMap and ShakeCast systems can tell responders where they are most likely to be needed, and tell them quickly--within minutes of an earthquake. ShakeMap and ShakeCast (short for ShakeMap Broadcast) are complementary software systems developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), one of the agencies participating in NEHRP. ShakeMap originated in the late 1990s and expanded as a key product of the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS), the nationwide network of monitoring stations that detect, measure, and record seismic events. ShakeMap systems receive and process ANSS data in regions of high seismic activity. When a moderate to large earthquake occurs, ShakeMap automatically generates maps and data files that document various measures of ground shaking. The most popular of these products is the instrumental intensity ShakeMap, which uses color coding to depict the severity of earthquake shaking. USGS and its regional seismic network partners now operate ShakeMap systems in Alaska, Southern California, Northern California, Nevada, the Pacific Northwest, and Utah."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2007-07
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Seismic Waves: Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "The 2008 'Great Southern California ShakeOut' was planned as a one-time event to motivate millions of people to practice 'Drop, Cover, and Hold On' and to get prepared at work, school, and home for the potential of a major earthquake. With the involvement of many partner organizations, the ShakeOut program has since expanded to include 42 states and U.S. territories, plus four other countries. More than 19.5 million people participated in 2012."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2013-09
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Seismic Waves: Strengthening Pipeline Survivability to Avoid Post-Quake Devastation
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). "When earthquakes impact urban areas, the resilience of underground utilities can have a tremendous effect on what happens after the shaking stops. Broken water pipes led to the spreading fires that consumed more than three-quarters of San Francisco in the days following the great earthquake of 1906. Much of the city's water supply flowed through rigid iron pipes that were ruptured by the intense shaking. When fires sparked by broken gas connections, crossed electrical wires, and overturned stoves began to grow out of control, the fire department had virtually no water with which to fight them. A similar tragedy unfolded in Japan in 1995, when a powerful earthquake shook Kobe, a city of 1.5 million residents. The quake knocked out about 70 percent of the city's water system and collapsed many older wood-frame houses. Within minutes more than 300 fires ignited, and with responders hampered by the lack of water and traffic disruptions, at least 12 conflagrations developed and burned for 24 to 48 hours. A team of researchers from Cornell University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) are responding to such events by conducting a systematic and comprehensive assessment of ground rupture effects on critical underground lifelines. Their objective is to improve the design and construction of buried pipelines and conduits used for water, natural gas, liquid fuel, electricity, and telecommunications."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2007-05
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Seismic Waves: Bringing Down the House: NEESwood Project Shakes Full-Scale Wood Townhouse in Northridge Simulation
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). "Glass shattered and the walls shook. In an unprecedented recreation of the 1994 Northridge earthquake, NEES[Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation]wood, a multi-year research project [...] funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), created a risky, very successful public test of the largest wood structure to undergo seismic testing in the world. If you live anywhere in the United States, there's a very good chance, about 80 to 90 percent, that your home is constructed with wood-frame. For the NEESwood test conducted on November 14, 2006, researchers built a three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,800-square foot wood-frame townhouse on the twin shake tables at the University at Buffalo's Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory, one of the NSF's George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) equipment sites. The townhouse was completely furnished, down to the car in the garage, two water heaters (one anchored, according to earthquake protection measures, and one not anchored), and dishes on the dining room table. During the test, 250 sensors inside the townhouse gathered information about the behavior of each component of the building during the simulated earthquake. A dozen video cameras recorded the shaking as it occurred. According to Dr. John van de Lindt, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at Colorado State University and Principal Investigator for the project, the test has already begun to generate useful data on how to construct wood-frame homes and make buildings safer for occupants during earthquakes. 'The results from this benchmark study will probably change the way we model wood-frame structures. That's a huge advance because without those modeling tools, we would not be able to achieve our greatest objective, which is constructing mid-rise (up to six-story) wood-frame structures that perform better during earthquakes and provide an economical and sustainable construction solution.'"
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2007-01
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Seismic Waves: Southern Californians Are Being Dared to Prepare
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). "In just 10--20 seconds, the 1994 Northridge earthquake devastated urban areas northwest of Los Angeles and became one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. Try to imagine stronger shaking lasting for 2 to 4 minutes, generated by twenty Northridge-sized earthquakes arrayed across Southern California. This is the scenario driving the Dare to Prepare campaign, a yearlong effort to strengthen awareness of and readiness for 'the Big One,' the next great earthquake along the southern San Andreas fault. The campaign was launched on January 9, 2007, exactly 150 years after a major earthquake last rocked southern portions of the San Andreas. The magnitude 7.9 Fort Tejon quake ruptured 225 miles of the fault in 1857. Scientists have found that large earthquakes recur along the southern San Andreas about every 150 years, so another big one is due, especially along the southernmost segment of the fault, where the last large temblor occurred more than 300 years ago. Public officials and seismologists agree that today, another Fort Tejon-sized quake could be catastrophic, producing economic losses of more than $150 billion."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2007-02
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Seismic Waves: Breaking Through Language Barriers with an Urgent Call to Prepare
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). "The San Francisco Bay Area is home to at least eight geologic faults capable of producing large, damaging earthquakes, and scientists say there is a 62 percent chance that the region will experience a magnitude 6.7 or greater quake by the year 2032. The need for earthquake awareness and readiness is urgent and ongoing in the Bay Area. Getting preparedness messages to the public, though always challenging, is even more so in a region where for many residents English is a second language. About 1.4 million Asians and 1.2 million Latinos live in the Bay Area. Thirty percent of residents were born outside of the United States, and in 20 percent of area households there are no adults who can speak or read English well. To confront this challenge, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)--two of the agencies participating in the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP)--are partnering with other organizations in a campaign to increase earthquake awareness and readiness among the non-English-speaking communities of the Bay Area. At the heart of this campaign are two new multilingual earthquake-preparedness publications, both entitled 'Protecting Your Family from Earthquakes--The Seven Steps to Earthquake Safety.'"
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2007-03
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Seismic Waves: Collaborating and Assisting in Turkey
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "In fall 2011, a series of earthquakes shook eastern Turkey in and around the cities of Van and Erciş. Preliminary reports put the death toll at 642, with more than 1,200 buildings collapsed or damaged beyond repair and 28,050 housing units rendered temporarily or permanently uninhabitable. The earthquake sequence consisted of a magnitude 7.1 main shock about 15 miles north of Van on October 23, 2011, followed by at least 11 aftershocks with magnitudes greater than 5. The most damaging aftershock, a magnitude 5.6 temblor, struck about 9 miles southwest of Van on November 9, 2011."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2012-08
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Seismic Waves: Thirty-four Strides Toward Earthquake-Resistant Structures
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "A unique and highly productive program of applied research and development (R&D) in earthquake engineering celebrated its fifth anniversary in September 2012. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the lead Federal agency in the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), launched this external R&D effort in 2007 through a 5-year contract with the NEHRP Consultants Joint Venture, a partnership between the Applied Technology Council (ATC) and the Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering (CUREE). The need for such a program had been recognized several years earlier, when planning efforts organized by NIST warned of a widening gap between the findings of basic research in earth-quake engineering and the practical application of those findings. The new program was designed to narrow this gap through problem-focused, practitioner-directed R&D [research & development] projects. By the close of the contract period, the program had initiated 34 projects, 15 of which are still under way. The role played by applied research, such as NIST's R&D projects, in integrating research findings into earthquake engineering is illustrated at right. New knowledge is generated through basic research supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF, a NEHRP agency), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS, a NEHRP agency), and others. Applied R&D conducted by NIST, USGS, and others transforms this fundamental knowledge into methods, tools, and guidance that are of practical use. Dissemination of these resources to earthquake engineering practitioners is led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA, a NEHRP agency) and other NEHRP agencies, by seismic code and standards developers, and by influential experts in industry and academia."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2012-12
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Seismic Waves: Putting It All Together
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "During April--May 2012, an unprecedented series of tests was conducted on the largest outdoor shake table in the world, located at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Englekirk Structural Engineering Research Center. A full-scale building fully outfitted with a variety of common nonstructural components and systems (NCS) was subjected to realistic earthquake ground motions to examine in detail the seismic performance of NCS. These landmark tests generated a one-of-a-kind set of experimental data that will be used to reduce damage to NCS in future earthquakes. The tests were the centerpiece of an ongoing, multiyear project led by researchers from UCSD, San Diego State University, Howard University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. As better building codes and standards have made the load-bearing, structural systems in new buildings safer and less susceptible to collapse, damage to their non-structural systems has emerged as a dominant source of potential earthquake-related losses in them. NCS include a building's mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, architectural components, and contents. Recent earthquakes have shown that even moderate levels of ground shaking can produce NCS damage that exposes occupants to hazardous conditions, is costly to repair, and results in building downtime and indirect losses."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2012-11
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Seismic Waves: Keeping the Containers Moving Through U.S. Ports
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "In the United States, container ports have become an important segment of the commercial infrastructure, a critical element of the economy, and a key gateway for exports and imports. However, the growing value of these facilities has generally not been accompanied by commensurate advances in their seismic risk management practices. This observation led to a major research effort initiated in 2005 by the Georgia Institute of Technology and partnering institutions. This work, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF, a NEHRP agency), significantly advanced seismic risk-assessment and risk-mitigation knowledge applicable to container ports, an effort since furthered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) through its work as NEHRP's lead agency."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2013-05
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Seismic Waves: Getting in GEER for New Zealand
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "Soon after the deadly February 22, 2011 Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand, a team of engineers from that country and the United States surveyed the geotechnical effects of this event. Their focus was on the characteristics of affected soils, how the soils responded to earthquake shaking, and how these responses affected buildings and lifelines. Due to a confluence of factors, the geotechnical effects produced by this magnitude 6.2 earthquake were of immense significance. U.S. participation in this joint reconnaissance was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF, a NEHRP member agency), and coordinated by the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association, an NSF-supported association of geotechnical and geological experts from academia, industry, and government (www.geerassociation.org). As in other disasters, GEER's approach in New Zealand was to offer supplemental assistance to the local experts involved. By sharing the load, GEER helps to ensure that the geotechnical engineering community worldwide is able to learn as much as possible from disasters to improve practice and mitigate the impacts of future events."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2013-03
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Seismic Waves: NEHRP Technical Briefs Reach Five-Year Milestone
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "Although the statement above may have a con-temporary ring, it was actually voiced more than a century ago. Suffice it to say that since then it hasn't gotten any easier to keep up with the literature, including that related to earthquake engineering. As described in an earlier issue of Seismic Waves, the concept of 'technical briefs' (techbriefs) originated in response to this predicament. Embracing the concept as a means of hastening and broadening the application of research-based best practices in earthquake engineering, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, a NEHRP agency) began publishing NEHRP technical briefs in 2008. Over the 5 years since, NIST has produced an initial collection of eight techbriefs that are helping to transfer many of the latest advances in earthquake engineering into practice."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2013-10
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Seismic Waves: Bridging Boundaries to Reduce Risk
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "Earthquake risk reduction efforts are, metaphorically, all about bridge building and boundary breaking. NEHRP operates not only across multiple agencies, but also across multiple environments (natural, built, social), disciplines (earth sciences, engineering, social sciences), and interests (e.g., research, policy making, hazard mitigation, disaster response). The bridge that is the most fundamental to NEHRP is that between research and practice, mediated by public- and private-sector policy making. The Natural Hazards Center (NHC), located at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has for many years played a unique and critically important role in strengthening and sustaining this bridge for NEHRP."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2013-06
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Seismic Waves: When (Physical + Numerical=Testable System)
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "As the utility of hybrid simulation (HS) has grown over the past decade, NEHRP has led the development of this innovative research method. HS combines physical experimentation with computational simulation to examine how structures and lifelines respond to simulated earthquakes and thus, how they are likely to respond in actual earthquakes."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2013-12
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Seismic Waves: Learning from the Disasters in Japan and New Zealand
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "The New Zealand earthquakes of September 4, 2010, and February 22, 2011, and the Tohoku Japan earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, presented rare learning opportunities that are highly relevant, not only to the affected countries, but also to the United States. On February 9 and 10, 2012, the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) convened a workshop to review what was already being learned from these tragic events and to consider what and how further lessons could be drawn from them. The National Science Foundation (NSF), one of the four NEHRP agencies, supported the workshop and EERI's subsequent report about the meeting. Attendees included more than 100 researchers and representatives from universities, research organizations, and government agencies in the United States, Japan, and New Zealand. The NSF Director, the Japanese and New Zealand Ambassadors to the United States, and the Executive Director of the Japan Science and Technology Agency opened the workshop and expressed their strong support for the international collaborative effort to learn from these great disasters. Most researchers had been engaged in studies related to the Japan or New Zealand earthquakes under projects supported by NSF's Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grant program."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2012-07
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Seismic Waves: ROVER: New End-to-End Software for Managing Seismic Risk
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has teamed with the Applied Technology Council (ATC) and private-sector partners to create a new tool to screen and evaluate buildings for seismic risk. Now available online and on CD-ROM, the Rapid Observation of Vulnerability and Estimation of Risk (ROVER) software automates two international standard paper-based methodologies: FEMA P-154, 'Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) of Buildings for Potential Seismic Hazards, and ATC-20, Post-earthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings.'"
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2011-09
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Seismic Waves: Network Hitting Its Stride, Linking More Than Laboratories
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "Now entering its eighth year in operation, the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) is accelerating advances in earthquake safety in unprecedented ways. Known for the cutting-edge research enabled by its state-of- the-art network of laboratories, NEES is also helping the earthquake engineering community become more interconnected and collaborative, in the United States and internationally. As part of its contribution to the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, the National Science Foundation (NSF) funds NEES operations (Award # CMMI- 0927178) as well as many of the research projects that are conducted in NEES facilities. NEES operations are managed by the NEES Community and Communications Team (NEEScomm), which is headquartered at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, and includes key administrative partners at the University of Texas at Austin, San Jose State University, the University of Washington at Seattle, the University of Kansas at Lawrence, and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2011-11
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Seismic Waves: New 'Risk-Targeted' Seismic Maps Introduced into Building Codes
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program [NEHRP]. "Throughout most municipalities of the United States, structural engineers design new buildings using the U.S.-focused 'International Building Code' (IBC). Updated editions of the IBC are published every 3 years. The latest edition (2012) contains new 'risk-targeted maximum considered earthquake' (MCER) ground motion maps, which are enabling engineers to incorporate a more consistent and better-defined level of seismic safety into their building designs. The new maps were developed by the Building Seismic Safety Council and its Seismic Design Procedures Reassessment Group, in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and with funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), two of the agencies that participate in the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). Following their initial publication in the 2009 'NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions for New Buildings and Other Structures' (FEMA P--750), the maps were adopted into the 2010 edition of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Standard ASCE/SEI 7--10, 'Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures', and subsequently into the 2012 IBC. The 2012 'International Residential Code' (IRC), which governs the design and construction of one- and two-family dwellings, contains similar new maps (see figure 1)."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2012-06
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Seismic Waves: FEMA Spearheading NEHRP Implementation Efforts
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. "The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) primary role within the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) is to work with state governments and other partners to strengthen the resilience of communities vulnerable to earthquakes. This critical 'implementation' mission focuses on putting to use knowledge developed through research on seismic hazards and on reducing risks presented by such hazards. Several major components of this work are explored below."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2012-03
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Seismic Waves: Seismic Safety Secures a Share of Stimulus Spending
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. The topic in this edition of Seismic Waves is how seismic safety secures a share of stimulus spending. "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was enacted, in part, to spur technological advances and infrastructure improvements that will provide long-term economic benefits for the Nation. Several agencies participating in the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) received ARRA funding to achieve those goals through earthquake-related research and infrastructure. Three NEHRP agencies--the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)--have enabled and targeted ARRA support for earthquake risk reduction, each in its own way. While USGS funding was specifically directed toward infrastructure improvements, NIST and NSF have also expanded funding opportunities for basic and applied research."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2010-11
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Seismic Waves: From Prescriptive to Predictive
Seismic Waves is a newsletter published by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. The topic in this edition of Seismic Waves is moving from prescriptive to predictive building codes. "Prescriptive building codes and standards, which specify types of materials that must be used and how they must be designed and constructed, govern the design of most new buildings in the United States. Buildings designed in accordance with such regulations provide 'life safety' for their occupants. This means that occupants will normally be able to exit these buildings safely after earthquakes as powerful as those planned for in their designs. However, costly damage may still occur. Direct costs can accrue through needed repairs or, worse, demolition and replacement. Moreover, the buildings may not be able to accommodate their former occupants and functions for some time. These effects can greatly impact the resilience of a community, that is, its ability to 'bounce back' to prior levels of economic and social activity."
National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (U.S.)
2011-03
