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Earthquake Preparedness 30 Sep 2010
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing entitled “Earthquake Preparedness: What the U.S. Can Learn from the 2010 Chilean and Haitian Earthquakes” on 30 September 2010. The hearing included witnesses from federal agencies, foreign governments, the private sector, and academia.
Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) chaired the hearing, expressing his concerns over a potentially high magnitude earthquake along the New Madrid fault. He noted people in the mid-west need to realize they are vulnerable to earthquakes. Senator Pryor mentioned the upcoming 100th anniversary of the 1811 and 1812 New Madrid earthquakes which devastated the region. He stated that a similar earthquake today could affect up to 44 million people and “FEMA estimates over $70 billion in infrastructure damage, while others predict a $500 billion response and recovery effort.”
The first panel of witnesses included William Carwile from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Dirk Dijkerman from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and Cristóbol Lira from the Chilean Ministry of the Interior. They all drew lessons learned from the Haitian and Chilean earthquakes. They emphasized the importance of cooperation between federal, state, local, and regional managers and borrowing ideas in preparedness response from others. In Chile, for example, the electricity grid shuts down automatically in the event of an earthquake in order to prevent fires. Mr. Lira noted that while it can be frustrating to be without power, it is better than having fires. Mr. Carwile highlighted a multi-state earthquake exercise along the New Madrid fault that will take place in spring 2011. There are four FEMA regions and eight states participating and planning, while earthquake scenarios and shake maps are provided by the U.S. Geological Survey and academia. The New Madrid exercise is modeled on the successful Great California Shakeout, with which they are collaborating.
Senator Pryor asked the first panel to grade the U.S. on its earthquake preparedness; the response was a “B.” Witnesses also noted California leads the way in terms of public preparedness because California, like Chile, holds city-wide earthquake drills. Mr. Carwile stressed the importance of the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP), which is due for re-authorization this year.
Witnesses in the second panel included James Wilkinson of the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium, Ellis Stanley from Dewberry, and Reginald DesRoches of Georgia Tech. Dr. DesRoches, a seismologist who was born in Haiti and who lost family during the January 2010 earthquake, underscored the mid-west’s vulnerability should an earthquake occur along the New Madrid fault. The area has high seismic risk, with estimates that nearly 750,000 buildings would be damaged. Dr. DesRoches noted that while we cannot prevent the buildup of tectonic stress along a fault line, we can prepare ourselves. He, too, emphasized the importance of NEHRP, which calls on science and technology to increase our preparedness by developing new technologies and improving our preparedness strategies.
Senator Pryor was concerned about when the next earthquake might strike, as well as the estimated loss of life, which could reach 4,000. The witnesses agreed that NEHRP is crucial to limiting earthquake losses in this country. They stressed that it is important to increase public awareness, especially in areas that do not have a recent history of earthquakes, such as the mid-west and south-east.
The witnesses’ testimonies and the hearing webcast are available here.