Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Research Articles

Program cut reduces quake studies

The proposed decrease of $15 million in the Fiscal Year 1992 budget for the U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (EHRP) will significantly reduce earthquake studies. Congress provided expanded support of the program in FY91 as a continuation of support following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, when Congress gave a supplemental appropriation. As created by the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977, EHRP is a major component of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.Betty Goodrich, Acting Budget Officer of USGS, notes that the cut is in response to a “tight fiscal situation and not that Congress is against the earthquake program.” She also attributes the reduction in the program to competing priorities among other major initiatives. “EHRP just did not make it through,” she said.

Seismic hazard research grants

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is inviting proposals for research contracts and grants under its Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program. The proposed research must be directed toward identifying, evaluating, and characterizing the immediate and longterm seismic hazard, says the USGS. Program objectives and tasks required to achieve those objectives are described in Proposal Information Package No. RFP‐1485. The deadline for proposals is February 10, 1984. USGS expects that funding of selected programs will start on or after October 1, 1984.

USGS solicits earthquake research

Proposals for research contracts under the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program are sought by the U.S. Geological Survey. Program information, including description of goals and proposal information package RFP‐922W, can be obtained from the Contracting Officer, USGS, Mail Stop 85, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, California 94025. Proposals are due February 13, 1981. Funding is expected to start in the first part of fiscal 1982.

Earthquake hazards reduction

Only minor changes were made in the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program at a recent markup of reauthorizing legislation by the House Science, Research, and Technology subcommittee. The subcommittee's action would increase funding slightly above the FY 1980 level, expedite planning for earthquake preparedness, and eliminate some fuzzy areas in administration of the program.Extra money would be provided for a number of areas, including public education, disaster planning and preparedness, and studies to improve the resistance of buildings to earthquakes. The bill gives special attention to ‘policy research,’ a part of the NSF Problem‐Focused Research Division's effort to assess the social consequences of predicting, and preparing for, earthquakes—an area formerly given short shrift by a practical‐minded Congress.

USGS Earthquake Research Center solicits research proposals

The U.S. Geological Survey is soliciting proposals for research grants/contracts under its Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, with headquarters at the USGS National Center for Earthquake Research in Menlo Park, California.The general areas of interest are (a) evaluation and mapping of geologic hazards associated with earthquakes, (b) earthquake prediction research and implementation, (c) physics of crustal deformation and failure, and (d) ground motion prediction and related studies.