Circular 1242
The proposed plan to coordinate post-earthquake investigations for significant
domestic earthquakes is shown schematically in figure
1. For the purpose of implementing the plan, either in part or in total,
a significant domestic earthquake will be defined as follows: (1) an earthquake
resulting in a Presidential disaster declaration or (2) an earthquake considered
by NEHRP agencies to provide an opportunity to learn how to reduce future earthquake
losses in the United States. The plan identifies the steps and approximate timeline
necessary to achieve coordination goals, as well as the parties responsible
for each activity. The responsible parties include NEHRP agencies, entities
funded either in part or totally by NEHRP, and other entities with whom NEHRP
should coordinate. As shown in the figure, these activities are parts of a continuum.
Initial or Phase I post-earthquake activities focus on defining the scope of
the disaster and are reconnaissance in nature. They quickly assess the character
and distribution of inflicted damage and generated ground effects, identify
research opportunities that will improve the practice of earthquake risk mitigation,
set the stage for subsequent in-depth data gathering, and aid emergency managers
by identifying hazardous situations that may be exacerbated by aftershocks or
other processes. These Phase I activities are typically followed by more intensive
data gathering for subsequent research and analysis. This period is commonly
referred to as Phase II and may last for weeks after the event. Phase III is
the longer period after the earthquake when comprehensive research and investigations
are conducted.
Most of the activities identified in the plan are currently conducted by NEHRP following domestic earthquakes. The plan is designed to place them into a more formal structure. Some of the activities, particularly those that apply new information technology, are evolving with each earthquake. For these activities, the plan tries to anticipate their evolution and assign responsibility for their implementation.
Following the USGS incident report and decision by the NEHRP agencies to activate
the plan, several decisions must be made promptly by NEHRP. These decisions
occur almost simultaneously. They include: (1) activation of an event web site,
(2) establishment of a field technical clearinghouse, and (3) designation of
an Investigations Coordinator.
When a large or potentially damaging earthquake occurs in the United States,
the USGS shall determine and announce the magnitude and location of the earthquake
within minutes. Once announced, emergency response personnel are alerted through
the National Warning System (NAWAS), which is operated by FEMA. As development
of the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) progresses, the USGS capability
to estimate the strength and geographic distribution of strong shaking will
also improve. The USGS has the mandate to quickly provide information on the
strength and distribution of strong ground shaking to emergency managers and
others. The improved ANSS system is greatly improving the capability of USGS
to fulfill this mandate.
Each NEHRP agency shall identify (and review annually) a contact who shall be alerted directly by the USGS about the event. Each NEHRP agency also should develop a list and strategy for contacting entities that have partnership responsibilities in the area of post-earthquake investigation. Examples of such entities include EERI, state geological surveys and regional associations, earth science centers, and NSF-funded centers for earthquake engineering research and education.
These entities should request that the USGS provide automatic e-mail alerts,
which can be received on cell phones, pagers, and computers.
Following the incident report, the USGS shall convene a conference call with
the NEHRP agencies, the state geological survey(s) in the affected state(s),
and EERI to determine if the earthquake is significant. If the earthquake is
deemed significant, the USGS in consultation with the preceding agencies and
organizations shall decide whether to implement all or part of the NEHRP post-earthquake
coordination plan. If the decision is made to implement the plan, the USGS
in collaboration with the state geological surveys shall inform emergency management
agencies of the implementation.
Under the plan, the USGS shall be responsible for establishing, within a few
hours of a significant earthquake, an event Web site with links to other Federal
and non-Federal earthquake-related Web sites. The USGS has recently automated
this process for any domestic earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 or greater
and foreign earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.0 or greater; smaller events may
still be significant, however, and regional earthquake information centers
will need to adopt and modify the automatic posting criteria to best meet the
needs of their region. Beginning with the devastating earthquake in 1995 in
Kobe, Japan, the Internet has become an important source of information about
earthquake disasters for both technical personnel and the public.
To facilitate searches for the event Web site, its URL and a link shall be
posted on the USGS Earthquake Program Web site (http://earthquake.usgs.gov)
and the EERI Web site (http://www.eeri.org).
The event Web site shall include brief descriptions of linked sites so that
earth scientists, engineers, and social scientists will be able to search efficiently
for information about the earthquake. Entities that are funded by NEHRP agencies
and that establish Web sites shall be instructed by their funding agencies
to inform the USGS of their URL and provide the USGS with a brief description
or abstract of the Web site. The USGS event Web site also shall include information
about the location of and activities at the technical clearinghouse (see 4.1.1.3).
The Web site shall include authoritative sources of information; the USGS, EERI,
and FEMA have responsibility, respectively, for earth science, engineering,
and Federal disaster information and assistance. The USGS shall have principal
responsibility for collating and linking to earthscience information. EERI
shall have principal responsibility for collating and linking to engineering
information as provided by the engineering centers, institutions, and private
practice.
The USGS Earthquake Hazards Program along with the USGS regional and National
Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) Web sites will be critically important
sources of basic information for the news media and general public in the first
few hours following a damaging earthquake. Commonly the demand for information
surges several orders of magnitude during this period. In the past, the USGS
has had difficulty in meeting this surge in demand; accordingly the USGS has
recently contracted with a private vendor for web content distribution. It
is important that the USGS continue to employ a web-content distribution strategy
that is scaleable and designed to perform well during peak periods. This will
ensure that the media, the general public, and responding officials, all have
information about what is happening as soon as it is available.
Within 1 day after a significant earthquake, a place should be established in the region affected by the earthquake where post-earthquake field investigators can meet to review progress and to organize and coordinate their activities. For very large events, multiple places might be appropriate. Such a field facility, known as a technical clearinghouse, is increasingly becoming part of the post-earthquake investigation culture in the United States (fig. 2). For purposes of coordination and safety, it is strongly recommended that all field investigators, regardless of affiliation, go through the clearinghouse before conducting field investigations. Formal clearinghouses were established after the 1994 Northridge, California, and 2001 Nisqually, Washington, earthquakes. Establishment of the technical clearinghouse is paramount to ensure an orderly post-earthquake technical reconnaissance that does not interfere with emergency response activities. To meet this goal, direct communication between the clearinghouse and state and Federal Disaster Coordinating Officers needs to be established and maintained. California has formalized the process for establishing a clearinghouse, with the principal NEHRP-sponsored participants being FEMA (Region IX), EERI, and the USGS (OES, 1998). Recently, the Western States Seismic Policy Council (WSSPC) and Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC) have sponsored efforts to formalize the clearinghouse process in their regions. WSSPC recently both adopted a policy that “each state, province, and territory establish a plan for post-earthquake clearinghouses to be activated within 24 hours after each major earthquake…” (WSSPC, 2001) and published a model plan (http://www.wsspc.org/publicpolicy/committees/ clearinghouseplan.pdf). CUSEC, which coordinates earthquake-related efforts of geological surveys in the central United States, is developing a regional plan that will identify a single point of contact following an event.
 |
| Figure 2. Investigators meet at technical clearinghouse to discuss findings from field investigation of 2001 Nisqually, Washington, earthquake (photograph by Charles Scawthorn). |
The USGS, FEMA, and EERI shall work together on behalf of NEHRP and develop
a general procedure for establishing a clearinghouse within 24 hours following
a significant earthquake. The procedure shall be formulated in collaboration
with state emergency management, state geological surveys, and appropriate multistate
consortia. The degree of leadership or responsibility by NEHRP entities for
a specific event will depend on the level of involvement of non-Federal agencies
in the clearinghouse. In cases where the states have a clearinghouse plan and
resources, a state may take the lead in establishing the clearinghouse, with
NEHRP and its affiliated agencies being partners in that effort. In other cases
where states are not prepared to establish a clearinghouse, NEHRP shall take
the lead in establishing the clearinghouse, with participation as available
from state and local agencies. If NIST is conducting an investigation under
the authority of the National Construction Safety Team Act, NIST will coordinate
with the clearinghouse to the extent possible.
Both the specific design and operation of the clearinghouse are the responsibility
of the participants, but general operational plans must be prepared in advance
by the USGS, FEMA, and EERI, if a fully functional clearinghouse is to be quickly
established. With regards to NEHRP-supported investigations, EERI shall take
responsibility for the engineering and socioeconomic aspects of the operation,
and the USGS shall take responsibility for the earth science aspects. It is
crucial that NEHRP funding agencies encourage funded centers, groups, and individuals
to coordinate their activities with either EERI or the USGS through the clearinghouse.
It is especially important that academic investigators, students, and technical
representatives of the earthquake engineering research and education centers
[Mid-America Earthquake Center (MAE), Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake
Engineering Research (MCEER), and Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center
(PEER)] and earthquake earth science centers and organizations [Southern California
Earthquake Center (SCEC), Center for Earthquake Research and Information (CERI),
the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), and the University
NAVSTAR Consortium (UNAVCO)] contribute and participate in the coordination
efforts. These centers and organizations comprise a valuable assembly of multidisciplinary
expertise in earthquake investigations. In addition, students from these centers
can gain firsthand experience and provide valuable support to the technical
clearinghouse. USGS shall formalize agreements with the major NEHRP-affiliated
earth science centers and organizations to facilitate coordination; EERI shall
formalize agreements with the major NEHRP-affiliated engineering centers and
professional groups, such as the Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering
(TCLEE), that routinely investigate earthquakes. It is critically important
that these centers and organizations develop plans for post-earthquake investigations
and share them with EERI and the USGS. Finally, at the time of an event, participation
of faculty and students from universities and colleges, who are not affiliated
with either earthquake engineering or earth science centers and organizations,
will be welcomed.
Both the operational relation and physical proximity of the technical clearinghouse
to the Disaster Field Office (DFO) need to be considered when the clearinghouse
is established. Some information collected during the Phase I activity may be
relevant to decisions being made at the DFO. Coordination of the clearinghouse
with the DFO may also provide a basis for a state’s request that the clearinghouse
be given a mission assignment by the appropriate state emergency services agency
and thereby qualify the clearinghouse for partial funding support from disaster
relief funds authorized by the 1974 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency
Assistance Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 5121, et seq.).
If the earthquake is substantial and receives prominent coverage by the news
media, many foreign researchers can be anticipated to visit. The USGS, EERI,
and state agencies shall arrange at the clearinghouse to welcome, orient, and
possibly brief these visitors about potential sites for their inspection and
study as well as safety concerns. Close coordination between U.S. and foreign
efforts can augment U.S. expertise and provide assistance with NEHRP post-earthquake
investigations. Information directing visiting scientists and engineers to the
clearinghouse should be posted on the event Web site.
Within 1 day of a significant earthquake, a NEHRP Investigations Coordinator shall be designated by the USGS. The USGS shall maintain a list of suitable candidates, both in and out of the Federal service, and ensure that a mechanism is available to retain the full-time services of each individual on short notice for a minimum of 1 month. Preparation of the list and selection of the Coordinator shall be done in consultation with FEMA, NSF, and NIST. The Coordinator shall be an individual with broad technical background, previous post-earthquake investigation experience, and a thorough awareness of the capabilities of the various NEHRP agencies and their affiliated centers and organizations. The primary responsibilities of the Coordinator are (1) to ensure that disaster response activities are not impeded by scientific and technical investigations, (2) to provide emergency managers with timely and relevant information from the ongoing field investigations, (3) to facilitate coordination of NEHRP agencies, (4) to ensure that NEHRP press releases are coordinated and consistent, and (5) to work with scientific and engineering leaders to identify critical investigations and gaps in the ongoing investigation. Because it is impossible to delegate authority to the Investigations Coordinator under NEHRP, program managers in each NEHRP agency must work closely and cooperatively with the Coordinator to take advantage of the broad perspective of the Coordinator.
The advent of the Internet has greatly facilitated timely communication and
reporting during natural disasters. Most organizations involved in post-earthquake
investigations routinely provide daily situation reports on findings, progress,
and difficulties encountered. Most of these reports are issued as e-mail. The
Coordinator shall be (1) informed by each NEHRP agency about the scope of their
post-earthquake investigation and (2) copied on all e-mail reports from supervisory
field personnel and planning staff when possible. The Investigations Coordinator
must also be kept abreast of activities at the technical clearinghouse.
In summary responsibilities of the Investigations Coordinator are to:
• Ensure that liaison with the Federal and State Coordinating Officials
(FCO and SCO) and state and local emergency managers is established promptly.
The purposes of the liaison activity are to ensure that NEHRP field efforts
do not impede emergency response and recovery management and that relevant scientific
and technical assessments from the field investigators are appropriately communicated
to emergency managers. In addition to the scientific and technical assessments,
some physical resources may be useful for emergency response. For example, it
may be of value to make emergency managers aware of the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory portable real-time aftershock warning system that can be
shipped on short notice to an impacted area1. If a state has already established
a liaison person for scientific and technical investigations, the Coordinator
should work with the designated state liaison person.
• Identify duplication and gaps in initial field reconnaissance and work
with NEHRP program managers and state agencies to improve coordination and rectify
shortcomings.
• Work with NEHRP and state agencies and Federal, state, and local emergency
managers to ensure that news releases are consistent and helpful to the public.
• Convene and report results from Phase II meeting (see 4.1.2.1).
Prompted by the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers on September 11, 2001, Congress passed the National Construction Safety Team Act, which was signed into law on October 1, 2002. The Act authorizes the Director of NIST to establish and deploy a Team to investigate the failure of a building or buildings that has resulted in substantial loss of life or that posed significant potential for substantial loss of life. To the maximum extent practicable, the Director shall establish and deploy a Team within 48 hours after such an event.
Congress anticipated the Act to be applicable to building failures caused by
earthquakes. In section 2(c)(1)(J) of the Act, it specifies that the NIST Director
develop implementing procedures that “provide for coordination with Federal,
State, and local entities that may sponsor research on investigations of building
failures, including research conducted under the Earthquake Hazards Reduction
Act of 1977.” In addition, Committee Report 107-530, published by the House
Science Committee on June 25, 2002, states that “The Director should clearly
define how earthquake researchers and Teams will carry out their responsibilities
in a coordinated fashion in cases where building failures have been caused by
an earthquake.”
The purpose of the Act is to (1) establish the likely technical cause or causes
of the building failure, (2) evaluate the technical aspects of evacuation and
emergency response failures, (3) recommend as necessary specific improvements
to building standards, codes and practices, and (4) recommend any research and
other appropriate actions needed to improve the structural safety of buildings
and improve evacuation and emergency response procedures, based on the findings
of the investigations. The Act requires that NIST issue a public report no later
than 90 days after completing an investigation.
Within 48 hours, NIST will examine the relevant factors associated with building failures that occur as a result of the earthquake and will make reasonable efforts to consult with the other NEHRP agencies prior to determining whether to conduct an investigation under the Act. Any NIST investigation conducted under the authority of the Act will be limited to building failures on one or more buildings or on one or more class or type of buildings selected by NIST.
When initial reconnaissance activities have been completed and initial assessments
of earthquake effects and damage have been made, typically within a few days
to a week, it will be the responsibility of the Investigations Coordinator
to convene a meeting to identify opportunities and needs for further investigation
and concentrated data gathering. This meeting should involve leaders of the
field efforts and include representatives from the USGS, FEMA, NIST, NSF, EERI,
earthquake engineering research and education centers, earth science centers,
IRIS, UNAVCO, state agencies, multistate consortia, and groups representing
the earth science, engineering, and social sciences communities. The meeting
is referred to in figure 1 as the Phase II meeting.
The primary purpose of the meeting is to identify important or unique geologic
and seismologic effects, damage to the built environment, and societal impacts
for which concentrated short-term investigations and data gathering are required
to ensure that important information is collected before it is lost or obliterated.
It is particularly important to identify opportunities to collect important
perishable data, such as data on structural and lifeline performance, aftershocks,
and ground failure, including fault rupture and secondary deformation. These
are investigations that must be conducted quickly before effects and damage
are obliterated by recovery efforts and natural processes. In retrospect, important
data have been lost following past earthquakes that could have been used to
develop better engineering criteria and other hazard mitigation tools. As a
consequence, valuable lessons were not learned and many needed tools to reduce
losses and casualties have not been developed.
Within 24 hours after the meeting, the Investigations Coordinator shall prepare
a brief summary of the meeting for the NEHRP agencies that describes (1) major
preliminary findings of the reconnaissance teams and (2) opportunities for further
investigations identified by participants in the meeting. The summary shall
consider hazard mitigation and risk management priorities in applicable local
and state hazard mitigations plans while identifying investigation priorities.
The report shall include an estimate of the level of additional support required
to pursue these opportunities. On the basis of this report of the Investigations
Coordinator, NSF, the USGS, EERI, the earthquake engineering research and education
centers, and earth science centers shall work jointly to optimize the collection
of perishable data.
If recommendation 4 (see 5.4) to seek additional funds to increase the level
of post-earthquake support is successful (or if supplemental funds are appropriated),
it is recommended that a statement, which is jointly prepared by FEMA, USGS,
NSF, and NIST, of opportunity for directed data collection be posted on the
USGS and EERI event Web sites and the NSF Web site soliciting statements of
qualifications and funding requests from groups or organizations willing to
conduct data gathering. This statement of opportunity should specifically identify
urgent investigations and note that funding decisions will be made quickly by
the process described in recommendation 4. Data gathering teams responding
to this statement of opportunity will typically include professors and students,
representatives from both the earthquake engineering research and education
and earth science centers, representatives of state and Federal agencies, personnel
from professional organizations, and groups from engineering and other private
firms.
If recommendation 4 is not successful (or if supplemental funds are not appropriated),
the report should be used to take maximum advantage of available NEHRP and other
resources. These resources include those of (1) NSF, which may supplement existing
research contracts and award both new peer-reviewed grants and Small Grants
for Exploratory Research (SGER), (2) USGS, which redirects agency personnel
and their research funding, (3) FEMA, whose engineering studies support recovery
as specified under the Stafford Act, (4) NIST, which has the authority to conduct
building investigations, and (5) the earthquake engineering and earth science
centers, which provide support from discretionary funds. If NIST is conducting
an investigation under the authority of the National Construction Safety Team
Act, NIST will use its available resources for the conduct of its investigation.
In addition, the NSF award to EERI to support the Learning from Earthquakes
Program now includes funding for a few small grants for post-earthquake data
collection. Because these resources are collectively modest and typically do
not provide for comprehensive documentation of earthquake damage and effects,
it is imperative that they be directed towards investigations of highest priority.
This will require that these institutions work together before making awards.
To improve the utility of data gathered during Phase II, NEHRP needs to standardize
formats for data gathering and archiving. This is the purpose of recommendations
1, 2, and 3 (see 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3). We strongly encourage the NEHRP agencies
to begin developing these standards and a process for electronically archiving
these data before NEHRP is confronted by the next significant earthquake. While
the success of recommendation 4 would provide funding that could support implementation
of this activity, planning must be completed before the next earthquake.
If the earthquake presents opportunities for investigations that would improve
earthquake risk mitigation, but which cannot be supported with existing funds,
the NEHRP agencies shall convene and consider a request for a budget supplement
within a few days after the earthquake. The meeting shall be convened when field
reports are adequate to make strategic decisions about these opportunities.
This meeting will be unnecessary if the potential permanent funding sources
have been established (see 5.4).
Establishing priorities for long-term investigations, development, and implementation
strategies following significant earthquakes is an important challenge for NEHRP.
Large damaging earthquakes typically provide many opportunities to improve the
understanding of earthquakes and their impacts. The NEHRP agencies (NSF, USGS,
NIST, and FEMA) and appropriate state agencies and multistate consortia shall
jointly sponsor a workshop of earth scientists, engineers, and social scientists
within 1 to 2 months of significant earthquakes to discuss priorities for long-term
(Phase III) research and development opportunities presented by the earthquake.
The workshop shall consider priority initiatives in applicable local and state
hazard mitigation plans when evaluating investigation priorities. The format
adopted in the EERI workshops following recent foreign earthquakes is a possible
model that might be supported by NEHRP. These EERI 2-day workshops have served
effectively to identify the most promising research opportunities—those
that have the greatest potential to improve the current state of knowledge and
practice throughout the world’s seismic zones. The results of the NEHRP
workshop will be presented immediately afterwards in a report that identifies
major needs and opportunities for investigation, with a recommended set of priorities
for funding.
Within the constraints of available funding, a joint statement shall be issued
soliciting long-term research and investigations. Funding shall be made within
approximately 5 months of the event. The internal post-earthquake research activities
of the USGS, FEMA, and NIST shall be coordinated with externally supported
research of the NEHRP funding agencies.
The publication and dissemination of findings from NEHRP post-earthquake investigations
currently are both inconsistent and incomplete. Research findings are published
in a wide variety of journals in a more or less timely manner, but official
publications of the participating organizations often are not available until
years after the event. This significantly reduces their potential impact on
both earthquake-related knowledge and loss-reduction policy. This plan envisions
that three different types of publications will be issued either under the aegis
of or with facilitation by NEHRP for every significant domestic earthquake (these
are not meant to preclude publication of institutional reports like those currently
prepared after significant earthquakes):
• Three-Month Event Summary—An event summary for a broad audience
shall be published within 3 months of a significant earthquake. The summary
should be well illustrated, comprehensive, and integrate preliminary observations
on the seismological processes controlling the event and the response of the
natural, built, and socioeconomic environments. It is recommended that the event
summary be prepared under the leadership of the USGS and EERI with formal collaboration
of FEMA, NIST, and other NSF-funded entities. For example, the contributions
of all of the major engineering and earth science investigative efforts supported
under NEHRP should be integrated and incorporated. The USGS and EERI should
designate editors within 1 week of the event, but co-editors from contributing
agencies and centers should be included to facilitate agency participation.
The summary is intended as a multidisciplinary document covering the earth
sciences, engineering, and social sciences. It is not intended to substitute
for institutional reports such as the EERI reconnaissance report, the USGS circular,
and center reports that currently are produced following significant earthquakes.
• One-Year Conference Proceedings—Because of the opportunity to
implement change in the aftermath of disasters, FEMA, NIST, NSF, and the USGS
will encourage and support local and state agencies in sponsoring a public conference
with a proceedings on the 1-year anniversary of a significant earthquake. The
conference should identify and synthesize the policy implications of the event
for earthquake risk reduction. NEHRP agencies shall participate and provide
support to the state agencies as needed to promote a successful conference.
The conference and proceedings would be analogous (but without the legal implications)
to transportation disaster assessments by agencies, like the National Transportation
Safety Board, that investigate transportation accidents to determine causality.
Another model is the 1995 Earthquake Information Exchange Workshop, which was
held following the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake. The anniversary
conference should be held in the region impacted by the earthquake and the content
of the conference should be designed to target an audience of local and state
policymakers in addition to Federal stakeholders. It is also expected that
NEHRP will sponsor technical conferences, as is the current practice.
• Comprehensive Synthesis (3 to 5 Years)—A comprehensive report that
consists of one or more volumes that synthesize the results and findings from
studies carried out by the research and professional practice communities shall
be published within 3 to 5 years of the event by the USGS and NIST, with assistance
from NSF and FEMA. The cost of this publication shall be shared among the NEHRP
agencies. The report shall emphasize the significant contributions of the
post-earthquake investigations to the knowledge base on earthquakes and earthquake
loss reduction and bring relevant data together in a summary fashion. The report
shall be coordinated with the data archive discussed later (see 5.3) where detailed
investigations of representative structures, including plans, design criteria,
estimated force distributions, and displaced shapes could be presented. The
report should contain overviews of important findings derived from research
on earth sciences and on the built and socioeconomic environments. This synthesis
should include an extensive bibliography of the post-earthquake publications
and should focus both on damage and disruption and on situations where the built
environment performed well and little or no damage occurred. A comprehensive
Phase III synthesis is important for several purposes to researchers and practitioners,
including providing both rapid entry into the literature on the earthquake and
overviews of studies that have been conducted in different disciplinary areas.
A synthesis also distills significant lessons learned for future research,
practice, and loss-reduction policy. Finally, NEHRP shall publicize the report
to both the research and practice communities.
If NIST is conducting an investigation under the authority of the National Construction Safety Team Act, NIST will contribute to the publications described above to the extent possible.
| Abbreviations | Domestic Earthquakes | Foreign
Earthquakes |
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