SCEC INSTANeT
News
|
SCEC INSTANeT
News |
|
Part 1 of this document focuses on how the southern California earth science research community developed a plan to work with government officials, building and design professionals, educators, media reporters and writers, and the public to increase awareness of the region's seismic hazard and to facilitate decisions that result in strengthened and enforced codes and better building practices. Part 2 includes specific examples of how we implement our outreach plan through interactions with our end users, especially those who develop risk mitigation measures. Part 3 addresses the southern California scientific community's plans for response to a damaging metropolitan earthquake.
Part 2: Implementing Risk Mitigation Measures at the Local Level In this section of the presentation, I will discuss specific examples of how SCEC implements its outreach plan through interactions with end users, especially those who develop risk mitigation measures. Reaching out to the Public via Print and Electronic Media: The SCEC Website http://www.scec.org The SCEC Web Page represents the ongoing research and results from all seven core institutions; provides links to related web sites, including nine SCEC-supported standard databases and the Earthquake Information Providers group (EqIP); and advertises publications and other Center products to the public. Over one million people per month visit the site. Reaching out to the Public via Print and Electronic Media: Earthquake Studies and the Civic Scientist We have worked to develop and maintain partnerships with local media organizations (print, radio and television) to educate and inform the public about earthquake-related issues. We recognized the need to communicate clear, consistent messages to the public - both to educate and inform and to minimize misunderstandings or the perpetuation of myths. We have encouraged scientists who are interested in conducting interviews with media reporters and writers to take advantage of short courses designed and taught by public information professionals. We have launched a project to create information packets for both scientists and reporters. The packets are designed to educate non-scientists about earthquake-related topics. Additional materials will be included in these packets, such as templates featuring known faults with basic information such as fault parameters, return rates, and probable magnitudes in the event of rupture. These templates can be updated and quickly distributed if and when new earthquakes occur. To ensure these materials are current, we partnered with the State Office of Emergency Services (OES), the State Division of Mines & Geology (DMG), and the Western States Seismic Policy Council (WSSPC). These organizations are responsible for emergency response and recovery, official hazard maps and data, and public policy development and recommendations for seismic hazards, respectively. The packets, which will also be mounted on the Web, include: Fact sheets. Two types: a) short, one-page versions for immediate broadcast by radio and TV reporters and b) longer (several pages) and more detailed, for writers and the general public. We periodically review and update information represented in fact sheets: at least one workshop per year is scheduled for this purpose. Sample fact sheets topics: Fault Facts
Earthquake Basics
Relative Scales
Other topics
Scenarios for the packets are collected and simplified or summarized by members of the post-earthquake committees of SCEC and others. Exercises
(for material review and interview practice) will be periodically
conducted for interested scientists. Reaching out to the Public via Museums Museums in the U.S. are centers for learning. Many boast wonderful education programs for all age groups; some of the larger museums, such as San Francisco's Exploratorium or Los Angeles's California Science Center, conduct formal classes for students in grade, middle, and high school. SCEC has collaborated with these and other museums to create exhibits and courses that focus on earth sciences, earthquakes and related phenomena, and how to prepare. California Science Center: Track the Quake is a 45-minute program designed by museum staff & SCEC. It allows young students to use scientific methods in an Earth science setting. SCEC Outreach organized a focus group that assisted the design, which features a local fault trench. An article about the program is featured in the SCEC Quarterly Newsletter (Volume 4, No. 4). See http://www.scec.org. San Francisco Exploratorium: Live @ the Exploratorium is an exhibit featuring multimedia as tools for education. Its producer used SCEC Outreach staff and researchers' expertise to create Faultline, a multi-media production aired in Mid-October 1999. Work conducted by many SCEC scientists all along the San Andreas fault is featured (strain meters, geodetic research, paleoseismic trenching, seismic monitoring networks, LARSE, etc.) The show uses simultaneous web casting and local TV broadcast capabilities. Riverside, California - Youth Museum: SCEC Outreach professionals are working with
"KidZone," a children's museum featuring educational
programs and displays, to construct an earth sciences display,
with an emphasis on teaching children and their parents earth
science basics, region-wide and local earthquake potential, and
how to prepare. A special shake table that will be designed to
hold a small-scale model building is now under construction by
a local university mechanical engineering class. Reaching out to the Public via Neighborhood Awareness Programs In 1998, SCEC conducted a yearlong program to raise awareness and educate homeowners on planning, preparation and mitigation methods. The program included presentations by scientists on LA urban earthquake hazards, a preparedness survey, Spanish translation of the "LA Underground" publication, provision for installation of automatic gas shut off valves, and a neighborhood earthquake safety fair. We produced a report that features a guide to communities for earthquake preparedness, now under review. It will be mounted on the Web on completion.
Reaching out to Practicing Professionals: Insurers SCEC's Workshop Series for Insurers is undergoing "retrofit" in order to partner with WSSPC, the Institute for Business and Home Safety, the California Earthquake Authority and others. SCEC will restart its Insurance Workshop Series in 2000. Issues to be covered will include:
Other topics of interest to insurers: SCEC recently received support to produce a video
based on a middle-school level curriculum called "Seismic
Sleuths." The video will be aired on national television
by the Discovery Channel. Future videos will feature various
aspects of the earthquake threat across the country, including
how to prepare, how to retrofit homes, office buildings, etc. Reaching out to Practicing Professionals: A Multidisciplinary Workshop Series Effective disaster preparedness and response depend critically on information and understanding regarding the status and functionality of the damaged infrastructures. Improvement to response and recovery efforts is hindered, however, by the information gap that exists between public safety agents and earthquake science and engineering research communities. Examples supporting evidence of the gap are difficulties experienced during planning and preparation for the consequences of damaging earthquakes, and the sometimes fragmented, chaotic emergency response to structural failure due to seismic activity. With a better understanding of the earthquake potential, sufficient information on structural vulnerabilities, and improved awareness of new technologies aimed at enhancing planning, response and recovery, we can ensure actions are taken to prepare for and execute timely, effective rescue operations and successful containment of secondary hazards such as landslides, tsunamis, floods and fires that usually follow damaging earthquakes. The Real Meaning of Seismic Risk, a response to our local community, is an initial summit and then workshop series with panelists who are well-informed experts with differing or opposing views on urban seismic risk issues. The summit, scheduled for early November 1999, will feature a lively, compelling exchange among earth scientists, earthquake engineers, building officials, public policymakers, architects, insurers, developers and the media. Topics will include:
Products will be a report for the public, with audio and videotapes of the proceedings. We expect media coverage.
On average, California experiences about one event of magnitude 6 per year with significant economic ramifications. Engineers, geologists, and public policymakers can use probabilistic information in structural design and land use planning to mitigate effects of the earthquake hazard in regions throughout the State of California. The probabilistic seismic hazard maps and supporting fault data, provided by the Southern California Earthquake Center, are available on the Division of Mines and Geology's home page at: http://www.consrv.ca.gov/dmg/. SCEC is becoming one of the main conduits for earthquake education and mitigation information in southern California. The Center's work with the Seismic Safety Commission, California Division of Mines and Geology, and the City of Los Angeles, for example, is strengthening the resolve of public officials to improve mitigation strategies such as sponsoring new seismic safety legislation, improving hazard maps, and strengthening seismic ordinances. Earthquake scenarios being developed by the Earthquake Center are providing much more realistic estimates of future ground shaking in the metropolitan areas of southern California that can be used for engineering design and upgrading seismic codes. In 1995 and 1996, SCEC conducted a workshop on zoning for Los Angeles area earthquake risks. The workshop included two days of presentations of the latest scientific data on earthquake hazards in the City of Los Angeles and surrounding municipalities, and discussion of engineering and mitigation issues, including seismic zoning and code requirements. The workshop was held in response to a Los Angeles City Council resolution, which called for a workshop on the question: "Given our knowledge of the earthquake hazard in the City of Los Angeles and contiguous municipalities, does more detailed seismic zonation make sense?" The workshop was well attended by over 250 participants from government, academia, and practicing professional communities. A full report was produced and is available through SCEC Outreach. One outcome was the formation of a joint task force to continue studies of vulnerable structures in the region. This gave rise to a project conducted by the City of Los Angeles / Structural Engineers of Southern California / SCEC Ground Motion Joint Task Force (JTF), to bridge the gap between earth scientists and engineers regarding earthquake hazard and mitigation. The task force is made up of structural engineers, civil engineers, geotechnical engineers, building officials, planners and earth scientists. They provide recommendations to the Los Angeles City Department of Building and Safety regarding earthquake ground motion hazards. The information in their reports will be used to determine public policy related to design of new buildings and seismic retrofit of existing structures. Liquefaction hazards were addressed by one subgroup of the task force made up of engineers and geologists with academic, practicing, and regulatory backgrounds. They produced a new document published by SCEC, called "Recommended Procedures for Implementation of DMG Special Publication 117 - Guidelines for Analyzing and Mitigating Liquefaction Hazards in California." The report is intended to help engineers, geologists and building officials competently evaluate and take protective measures against the potential liquefaction hazard in many areas of southern California. SCEC conducts quarterly workshops for those who must interpret and implement the guidelines. (See Media Advisory on Liquefaction Report for more information on this project.) Maps Showing Anticipated Ground-Motion Parameters: The County of Los Angeles Engineering Geology and Soils Review and Appeals Board was concerned by demands placed on engineering geologists and geotechnical engineers to estimate earthquake ground-motion parameters. (Most geologists working for the State of California lack the training and experience needed to make reliable estimates. Few geotechnical companies are likely to have the team of experts needed for this purpose. As a result, most engineering geologists rely on computer programs and on data available from CDMG. This information is deficient because it only includes known faults. It does not consider hidden faults, fault geometry or deep-seated effects of geologic structure and lithology.) As a result, many geotechnical reports are likely to incorrectly estimate earthquake ground-motion parameters. The group contended that a more sophisticated method is needed to predict future earthquake ground motions than is currently in use. They asked SCEC to assemble a team of experts to develop quadrangle maps showing maximum earthquake ground-motion parameters anticipated at sites with the map area. Suspected faults, as well as known faults should be used to generate the data. Such maps should take into account focusing and attenuation effects caused by crustal structure and lithology. The ultimate goal of predicting earthquake ground motion is to reduce future losses from earthquake while keeping construction costs at an affordable level. The ground-motion information must be in a form useful to architects, structural engineers and other potential users, and it must be as reliable as can be obtained at the present time. These maps are currently under construction and will be produced over the next several years. During a workshop in the spring of 1999, SCEC researchers gave this group more detailed information on how to find the data they need to make better decisions. The information contained in the future maps will be based on SCEC's and other organizations' data.
Part 1 of this document focuses on how the southern California earth science research community developed a plan to work with government officials, building and design professionals, educators, media reporters and writers, and the public to increase awareness of the region's seismic hazard and to facilitate decisions that result in strengthened and enforced codes and better building practices. Part 3 addresses the southern California scientific community's plans for response to a damaging metropolitan earthquake. |
||
Phone 213/740-5843 Fax 213/740-0011 e-mail: SCECinfo@usc.edu |