EEFIT Earthquake Mission Grant: Funding for Improved Response and Dissemination

The recent earthquake in Haiti highlights the tremendous suffering that earthquakes can inflict on some of the world's most vulnerable communities. While the role of earthquake engineering is of paramount importance in mitigating these effects, before we can improve our building standards it is absolutely crucial to gather first hand information on current building deficiencies. This research will fund UK based academics to participate in earthquake field investigations conducted by the Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team (EEFIT). in addition to this it will also enhance the quality of the data collected and its accessability to other researchers bydeveloping standardised field data collection methods. The grant will lasts for five years and in this time we will conduct five field investigations. Each investigation will comprise of a team of approximately six to eight people, two of whom will be UK academics and up to two PhD students and four from industry. They will spend approximately 7 days in the field making observations and collecting data. On their return, this data will be analysed and the findings disseminated to researchers, professional engineers and the community at large. This funding will allow rapid deployment of field investigations and the possibility to carry out longitudinal studies to assess recovery from catastrophic events. The grant will also provide funding for meetings with International partner institutions that deploy earthquake field missions (namely EERI, and GNS) in order to agree and develop standardised field mission protocols and data collection forms and tools.

Arguably the greatest disturbance to quality of life is the misery caused by natural disasters. In the case of earthquakes, the affected area is so large, the devastation caused so great and usually, although not always, the people affected so vulnerable, that even the smallest measures to reduce the impact will have an enormous effect on the quality of life of those affected. Progress in earthquake mitigation is mainly achieved by informing researchers of gaps in our current earthquake engineering knowledge, informing designers of the flaws in existing design practices, informing disaster management planners and policy makers of how to ensure safer systems, and teaching local communities how they can best prepare for the next event. All will benefit from the research; however in the longer term it is the world's most vulnerable communities that will see the greatest impact. The field observations will serve as guidance for the improvement of building codes in both the affected region and to seismic zones in general. They will be particularly important for informing the reconstruction process and will have a direct impact on the future resilience of the local community. In Britain, there is an excellent and active earthquake engineering community; however, it can be difficult for young researchers and engineers to gain practical experience in this important discipline. The academic members and PhD students will receive invaluable training and experience, by visiting the region, collecting data and make damage assessments, this will in turn be of great benefit to the earthquake engineering community in general.