Subcommittee Reviews Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program
(Washington, DC) – Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Subcommittee on Research and Technology held a hearing to review the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NERHP). Testifying before the Committee were two panels of witnesses. The first panel consisted of representative from the four relevant agencies. The second panel consisted of outside stakeholders. More information on the witnesses can be found here.
Congress originally created NERHP in 1977, largely in response to the 1964 Alaska Earthquake and the 1971 San Fernando Earthquake. The current program consists of four agencies: the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); the National Science Foundation (NSF); the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). These agencies support the development of earthquake hazard reduction measures, promote the adoption of these measures, and seek to improve the understanding of earthquake phenomena and their effects on structures, infrastructure, and communities. The current authorization for NEHRP expired in 2009.
Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA), said in his opening statement, “Though infrequent, earthquakes are unique among natural hazards in that they strike without warning. While areas like my home state of California, in addition to Oregon, Washington, and Alaska are the most well-known areas for earthquakes, earthquakes are not a hazard that is confined to the west coast. A 2011 earthquake in DC caused over $200 million in damages, including damage to the Washington Monument and Smithsonian. It is estimated that 75 million Americans in 39 states are exposed to significant seismic risk and nearly all states in the U.S. have some level of risk… Interagency programs, like National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, improve our understanding of earthquakes and then turn that knowledge into mitigation and outreach activities that will save lives and reduce economic damages.”
Members and witnesses emphasized the need to reauthorize the NEHRP program. They also discussed Federal coordination between the NEHRP agencies and other relevant agencies; coordination with the state and local governments; the importance of research and preparedness for lifelines and critical infrastructure; building codes; lessons learned from international and domestic earthquakes;; the progress made on an earthquake early warning system; the importance of STEM education to ensure that we have enough scientists and engineers to study earthquakes and earthquake resiliency; and the importance of social science research in understanding and mitigating the risk from earthquakes.
Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, Dan Lipinski (D-IL) said in his statement for the record, “We must reauthorize NEHRP so we can continue to address the large challenges that remain: retrofitting existing structures, improving the performance of critical infrastructure, and encouraging the adoption of mitigation measures by households, businesses, and communities. Additionally, we must ensure that social science research remains a key part of the NEHRP program. Understanding how people—including state and local officials, business owners, and the general public —make decisions and respond to warnings is essential to designing effective strategies to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a disaster.”
Mr. Monken, Director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, said, “Far too many structural vulnerabilities compromise our resilience, and NEHRP is potentially on a track which will not only see us lose the valuable gains we have made, but regress to a time that predates the establishment of the program This program deserves to be a legislative priority and balance should be restored to how the program is governed and funded. Only through robust coordination can we properly prepare for, mitigate against, respond to, and recover from the impacts of a major earthquake.”
There are several other authorized hazards programs, including programs for windstorms and tsunamis. Previous efforts to reauthorize NEHRP included reauthorizing the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP) as well as making technical corrections in other relevant disaster-related legislation. A bill reauthorizing only NWIRP recently passed the House earlier this month. Many organizations support taking a multi-hazards approach and have called for combining NEHRP and NWIRP and other hazards-related efforts into an all-hazards approach to research and development and the implementation of technologies, tools, and best practices for natural disaster mitigation and recovery.
Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) said, “Taking a multi-hazards approach could create opportunities for synergy among the various research and mitigation activities. Further, a multi-hazard approach could help achieve the goal of producing communities that are resilient to any and all disasters. I hope that as we work on a NEHRP reauthorization bill, we look for opportunities to create synergies and coordination across the hazards programs.”
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