Executive Summary

This is the plan to coordinate domestic and foreign post-earthquake investigations supported by the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). The plan addresses coordination of both the NEHRP agencies—Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), National Science Foundation (NSF), and U. S. Geological Survey (USGS)—and their partners. The plan is a framework for both coordinating what is going to be done and identifying responsibilities for post-earthquake investigations. It does not specify what will be done. Coordination is addressed in various time frames ranging from hours to years after an earthquake. The plan includes measures for (1) gaining rapid and general agreement on high-priority research opportunities, and (2) conducting the data gathering and field studies in a coordinated manner. It deals with identification, collection, processing, documentation, archiving, and dissemination of the results of post-earthquake work in a timely manner and easily accessible format.

For the purposes of this plan a significant domestic earthquake is defined as either (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 organizes domestic post-earthquake investigation and information dissemination activities into three phases, which include the following elements:

Phase I (immediate to several days)

• Incident Report and Plan Implementation—Within a few minutes after a large or potentially damaging domestic earthquake, the USGS shall notify emergency managers, NEHRP agencies, state geological survey(s) in the affected state(s), and personnel designated by the NEHRP agencies. Following this incident report, the USGS shall convene with FEMA, NIST, NSF, the state geological survey(s), and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) to determine if the earthquake is significant and warrants implementation of either all or part of the NEHRP post-earthquake coordination plan. Immediately following this consultation, the USGS in cooperation with FEMA and the state geological surveys shall alert emergency management agencies about implementation of the plan.

• Web Site Management—Within hours of the event, the USGS shall establish an event Web site with links to other earthquake-related Web sites. The USGS shall have principal responsibility for collating and linking to earth-science information. EERI shall have principal responsibility for collating and linking to engineering information as provided by engineering centers, institutions, and private practice.

• Technical Clearinghouse—Within 24 hours following mutual consultation, the USGS, FEMA, and EERI will work with state agencies to organize a field technical clearinghouse. Depending on ability and capability, the affected state(s) may take the lead in organizing the clearinghouse. California already has formalized the process for establishing a clearinghouse, with the principal NEHRP-sponsored participants being FEMA (Region IX), EERI, and the USGS. State planning currently is being conducted for the central and western United States under the aegis of the Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC) and the Western States Seismic Policy Council (WSSPC). The clearinghouse is the focal point for coordinating activities and promoting the safety of all field parties during initial post-earthquake reconnaissance.

• NEHRP Investigations Coordinator—Within 24 hours of a significant earthquake, the USGS in consultation with the other NEHRP agencies shall designate a NEHRP Investigations Coordinator. The Coordinator shall be kept abreast of all NEHRP activities and relevant communications with regards to the earthquake, ensure liaison with emergency managers is adequate, and assist the NEHRP agencies to optimize the deployment of NEHRP resources and to establish priorities for investigations.

• NCST 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 National Construction Safety Team (NCST) 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.

Phase II (several days to 1 month)

• Meeting—When the initial reconnaissance phase nears completion, the NEHRP Investigations Coordinator shall convene a meeting to identify opportunities and needs for rapid concentrated data gathering and investigation, including systematic collection of perishable data. Within 24 hours of the meeting, the Coordinator shall prepare a report containing summary reconnaissance findings, recommendations for collection of perishable data, and an estimate of both the level of effort and amount of funding that will be required to conduct recommended activities. On the basis of this report and pending available funds, NEHRP agencies may invite, consider, and support proposals for rapid investigations. The Coordinator shall be kept informed of all NEHRP-supported investigations in order to facilitate coordination and minimize duplication of effort.
• Budget Supplemental Decision—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 within a few days after the earthquake to consider a request for a budget supplemental.

Phase III (1 month to 5 years)

• Workshop on Investigation Priorities—Within 1 to 2 months of the earthquake, NSF and the USGS shall jointly sponsor a multidisciplinary workshop to evaluate both short- and long-term research and development opportunities, including what intensive follow-up investigations are warranted. The workshop will identify major opportunities and recommend priorities for funding.

• Investigations Solicitation—Based on the outcomes of the Workshop on Investigation Priorities and within constraints of available funding, a joint statement may be issued by FEMA, NSF, USGS, and NIST that solicits proposals for long-term research and problem-focused studies. If possible, awards are to be made within 5 months of the event.

• Information Dissemination—NEHRP shall support at a minimum three types of information dissemination activities following every significant domestic earthquake.

(1) An event summary report for a broad audience shall be published within 3 months of the event. The report shall integrate preliminary observations on the response of the natural, built, and socioeconomic environments. It shall be prepared by the USGS and EERI in collaboration with other NEHRP supported investigators and institutions.

(2) On the first anniversary of the earthquake, FEMA, NIST, NSF, and the USGS, shall support local and state agencies involved in risk reduction to hold a public conference with an accompanying proceedings that summarizes the implications of the earthquake and identifies opportunities for earthquake risk reduction. The conference and proceedings shall be targeted at local and state decisionmakers and shall be held in the region impacted by the earthquake. Participation by Federal stakeholders shall be encouraged as well.

(3) A comprehensive synthesis of research and professional reports shall be published within 5 years of the event by the USGS and NIST. Data and other detailed information shall be archived in a NEHRP virtual data center and appropriately summarized in the synthesis report. 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.

For foreign earthquakes, which typically are less intensively investigated than domestic earthquakes, the plan recommends that all U.S. post-earthquake investigators inform EERI of plans and schedules of investigations before departure, as well as their ongoing status once in the field. EERI shall regularly report these planned activities and their status to the NEHRP agencies as well as on its Web site. NEHRP agencies shall monitor these plans to avoid interference by visiting U.S. investigators with local experts.
This proposed plan concludes with recommendations that address several deficiencies in current domestic post-earthquake investigations. The deficiencies were identified at an invitational workshop of experienced post-earthquake investigators held as part of the process to prepare this plan. Areas in need of major improvement include:

• Coverage and comprehensiveness of investigations of earthquake impacts, including performance of the built and socioeconomic environments.

• Application of new information technology to data collection.

• Data management and archiving.

The plan recommends that NEHRP develop standard formats for the collection of data on the performance of buildings and other structures in regions of severe ground shaking, including damage to nonstructural components and information characterizing the earthquake resisting properties of structures. The standard formats for data collection shall consider those already developed for existing damage prediction tools, such as HAZUS©, as well as current standardized procedures for seismic design, pre-event evaluation and rehabilitation, and post-event evaluation and repair of structures. All post-earthquake data, including that accumulated by both FEMA as part of the disaster assistance process and private structural engineering firms, should be both collected digitally and stored in a virtual Web-based archive. This new database could be maintained either by the Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) or at various sites from where data would be retrievable from a single or mirrored Internet site using time stamps and a georeferencing system. The database would be addressable using all of the tools of a modern geographic information system as well as using modern relational database technology on the Internet. NEHRP also should involve a wider range of disciplines, including economics, sociology, and political science, in post-earthquake investigations. Protocols for data collection in these disciplines also should be standardized.

Because much of this information helps to reduce future losses, it is important that adequate funding be available for domestic post-earthquake investigations. For example, domestic post-earthquake investigations for each significant earthquake could be funded by establishing a separate fund during the next NEHRP reauthorization that could then be drawn upon for Federally-declared earthquake disasters; such funds could be administered by FEMA. Another possibility could be to designate and utilize existing agency programs to fund these activities. However, in the absence of such funds, all of the NEHRP agencies shall be prepared to submit a request through FEMA to Congress for appropriate emergency supplemental funding following a significant domestic earthquake. Such a template could also be used for post-event investigations of other types of disasters, including natural and terrorist events, which would allow for the documentation of information that would help improve the protection of the Nation’s infrastructure from future events.