Circular 1242
The United States historically has been fortunate that large damaging urban
earthquakes have been infrequent. This is due more to the relatively recent
formation of the United States as a nation than to a lack of seismicity. Potentially
damaging earthquakes, such as the 1811-12 New Madrid sequence in the Midwest,
the 1755 Cape Anne, Massachusetts, and 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, events
on the east coast, the 1857 Fort Tejon event in southern California, and the
1700 mega-event in the Pacific Northwest, are all well documented, but occurred
before major urban or suburban development of the regions. In modern times,
the only large (M>7) earthquakes that affected U.S. cities were the 1906
San Francisco, California, and 1964 Good Friday, Alaska, earthquakes, both of
which devastated cities. Smaller (M<7) but more frequent modern events, however,
such as the 1971 San Fernando, 1989 Loma Prieta, 1994 Northridge, and 2001 Nisqually
earthquakes, offer opportunities to learn how to reduce earthquake risk—the
ultimate goal of NEHRP.
Thus, opportunities to implement this proposed plan in its entirety will only
happen irregularly. As normal turnover in NEHRP management occurs, however,
new managers may be unfamiliar with the plan. Implementation of the plan is
further complicated by NEHRP’s lack of a line-management structure to activate
this plan immediately after an event. Therefore, it is recommended that the
NEHRP Interagency Coordinating Committee (ICC) review this plan annually, and
after each review remind agency and institutional managers of their obligations
under the plan. The annual review should also include an opportunity for comments
from the professional and research community involved in earthquake risk mitigation.
It is recommended that this annual review occur on the anniversary of the largest
recorded earthquake in U.S. history, the March 27, 1964, Good Friday earthquake
in Alaska.
The annual review would provide opportunities to revise or modify the plan
as appropriate. A fundamental tenet of emergency management is that the process
and currency of planning are as important as the pl
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
URL:
Page Contact Information:
Page Last Modified:
