Building-response records obtained by the California Division of Mines and Geology and by the USGS during recent California shocks are providing engineers with new insights into building behavior and the effectiveness of various earthquake-resistant design strategies. Three examples from the Northridge earthquake illustrate the value of instrumenting buildings. First, unexpected twisting motion measured in a regularly shaped building has caused engineers to scrutinize building code provisions guarding against damage from such motions. Second, records obtained from two buildings employing different innovative schemes to partially isolate the structure from severe motions of its base showed the efficacy of one scheme and the inadequacy of the other. Third, recordings from damaged buildings allow engineers to determine when damage begins and how it progresses as shaking continues; however, only two of the buildings damaged during the Northridge earthquake were adequately instrumented.

NEW PARTNERSHIPS

The USGS is increasing its reliance on partnerships to promote the application of research results to loss reduction practices and to leverage limited Federal resources. Several new and developing partnerships provide exciting opportunities to accelerate progress toward NEHRP goals:

State-of-the-Art Seismic Monitoring in Southern California. The USGS, the California Institute of Technology, and the California Division of Mines and Geology are jointly implementing a state-of-the-art seismic monitoring system--TriNet--that will provide rapid earthquake information to the extended Los Angeles megalopolis, including quickly prepared maps of potentially damaging ground shaking recorded by as many as 650 instruments. TriNet combines real-time earthquake data processing and advanced computer communications technology to help save lives and mitigate the impact of major earthquakes in southern California. TriNet is the first step towards a prototype early warning system that might give 30-60 second warning to Los Angeles before potentially damaging shaking begins from a big earthquake on the distant San Andreas fault. Such a warning could provide sufficient time to take actions that will reduce damage, such as protecting power grids and shutting down vulnerable hazardous operations.

Continuous Monitoring of Earth Movement in Southern California. In another major partnership, the USGS, NSF, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the SCEC are implementing a state-of-the-art geodetic network to monitor fault movements and Earth strain. The Southern California Integrated GPS Network (SCIGN) makes use of the Global Positioning System (GPS), a satellite navigation system operated by the Department of Defense, which permits points on the Earth's surface to be located to a precision of a millimeter. When complete, the network will track the movement of 250 stations concentrated along a corridor through the Los Angeles basin, but also extending south to the Mexican border and east to the Colorado River. The data will improve understanding of the large-scale tectonic processes responsible for earthquakes and of the framework of faults on which tectonic stresses are relieved in

earthquakes. Scientists hope to get indications of how fast strain is building up, where it is concentrated, and where earthquakes might occur in the near future. SCIGN is operated primarily by three institutions: the USGS, Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the University of California--San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Earthquake Hazards in the San Francisco Bay Area. In central California, the USGS and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) are engaged in a multi-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to improve the assessment of hazards and potential damage associated with large earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay area. PG&E, a publicly regulated utility serving northern and central California, has embarked on an effort to reduce the impact of damaging earthquakes on gas and electrical systems and on customer service. This CRADA provides for improvements in software and hardware systems for the rapid broadcast of seismic information, improved methods to predict local variations in earthquake shaking and to estimate permanent ground displacements, and refinement of long-term probabilistic earthquake forecasts.

Improving Tsunami Warning. In December 1996, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USGS, and FEMA initiated work on the new Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Implementation Plan, which was developed in cooperation with emergency managers and earth scientists from California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii. The plan is designed to maximize the efficiency of detecting tsunami threats, issuing warnings, and responding to tsunami damages using the combined resources of the cooperating agencies. The USGS is responsible for upgrading seismic equipment and monitoring facilities of cooperative regional seismic networks that it supports in these five states, where tsunami-generating earthquakes are likely to occur. The upgraded seismic networks will be able to provide pertinent seismic information reliably and nearly instantaneously to NOAA's West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii.

Engaging the Insurance Sector. Recognizing that the private insurance sector can become a forceful agent for promoting loss reduction, the USGS is seeking to build links to that sector. As one step toward this end, the USGS has developed a Statement of Understanding with the Insurance Institute for Property Loss Reduction (IIPLR), an independent nonprofit research and communications corporation supported by over 250 insurance companies and about 100 insurance groups. The USGS will work with IIPLR to raise awareness in the insurance sector about earthquakes and their hazards and to help institutionalize earthquake disaster mitigation as a public value. This June the USGS will present a short course on earthquakes at the annual congress of IIPLR. In addition, plans are proceeding for the USGS and IIPLR to jointly prepare a series of fact sheets and technical notes about the nature of earthquakes and their impacts.

FUTURE PROGRAM DIRECTION

The USGS has just completed an extensive planning effort that culminated in a 5-year program plan for its component of NEHRP. A primary factor motivating the planning effort was the need to establish program priorities in the context of limited program resources.

The program planning process involved a broad cross section of the earthquake loss-reduction community, including scientists, engineers, emergency managers, planners, and social scientists from academia, various levels of Government, and the private sector. Comments on a draft program plan were solicited through a series of workshops held in several cities around the country and through mail solicitation of about 400 individuals, including State geologists and emergency managers, external program participants and collaborators, and leaders in the earthquake hazards community.

Under the new 5-year plan, the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program will focus on delivering usable products for earthquake loss reduction, providing earthquake information, and pursuing fundamental research on earthquake occurrence and earthquake effects.

Information Products for Earthquake Loss Reduction. The new plan places increased emphasis on developing and demonstrating earth-science information products that enable the public and private sectors to assess earthquake hazards and implement effective loss mitigation strategies. Priority products include updated national maps of shaking hazard that incorporate new knowledge, digital maps and databases of active faults and chronologies of historic and prehistoric earthquake activity, hazard maps of shaking and unstable ground for selected highrisk urban regions, 30-year probabilistic earthquake forecasts for well-studied regions, and earthquake planning scenarios for a selected urban region outside of California. The program will rely on a variety of partnerships to develop and demonstrate the application of these products. To ensure effective and proper use of earth-science products, the USGS will increase its collaboration with professional organizations and regional earthquake consortia and centers to communicate seismic hazard issues and determine the needs of user groups.

Earthquake Information. The USGS will lead the national program to collect, interpret, and disseminate information on earthquakes throughout the United States and significant earthquakes worldwide in support of disaster response, scientific response, national security, and public education. The USGS will maintain support for seismic monitoring at global, national, regional and urban scales to meet the diverse needs of the Nation for rapid reliable information about the occurrence of earthquakes and the resultant strong shaking. Over time, rapid information systems will be developed in urban areas at greatest risk and antiquated seismic instruments will be upgraded with digital technology to provide more complete information at faster speed. In its FY 1998 budget request, the USGS is seeking direct funding to support operation of the Global Seismographic Network, which is operated cooperatively with the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology under the auspices of the NSF. The USGS will also continue to

monitor the buildup and release of Earth strain related to seismicity in areas of the Western United States and conduct post-earthquake investigations in cooperation with U.S. and foreign agencies and institutions.

Earthquake Research. The USGS will conduct and sponsor research to understand earthquake occurrence and earthquake effects for the purpose of developing improved hazard assessment and risk reduction methods. The USGS will support research that is expected to lead in the short or long term to new or improved methods and strategies for loss reduction. Research priorities under earthquake occurrence include understanding how earthquakes begin and what factors control their size and recurrence rates, and improving the precision of earthquake forecasts. Research priorities related to earthquake effects include understanding the factors that determine the characteristics of strong ground shaking and the response of unstable ground and man-made structures to strong ground shaking.

External Program. From its inception, the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program has enlisted and relied on the talents and expertise of academia, other Government agencies, and the private sector in implementation of its program. The USGS expects to continue this vital partnership with the external community. Activities in the external program include: operating regional seismograph networks to locate earthquakes and disseminate information, mapping seismic hazards in urban areas, developing credible planning scenarios, deciphering the prehistoric record of large earthquakes, investigating the origins of earthquakes, and improving methods for predicting earthquake effects. By involving the external community, the USGS increases the geographical impact of its program, raises earthquake awareness across the Nation, promotes the application of new hazards assessment techniques and loss reduction strategies by State and local governments and by the private sector, and raises the level of technical knowledge within State and local public agencies.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I hope that I have conveyed a sense of optimism for the future of NEHRP and the USGS role within this critical national program. The present offers many challenges to Federal agencies and programs, but I believe that the USGS and its sister NEHRP agencies are working boldly and effectively to meet these challenges and to assure a safer future for the country. After 20 years, the fruits of NEHRP are becoming more apparent: the Nation is increasingly aware of its earthquakes hazards, effective strategies for reducing seismic vulnerability now exist, and the public and private sector are more willing to take action to reduce their seismic risk. By building on these successes, NEHRP has the opportunity to speed the pace of mitigation.

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my remarks. I would be happy to answer any questions.

STATEMENT OF M. CHRISTINA GABRIEL, ACTING DEPUTY ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR ENGINEERING, NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Dr. GABRIEL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Rockefeller and members of the staff. Thank you very much for the opportunity to provide testimony on the reauthorization of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program.

My complete statement has been provided for the record, and I will summarize now for the subcommittee.

With your indulgence, I also may call upon my colleagues, Dr. Bill Anderson and Dr. Ron Sach, who are sitting behind me, to provide detailed answers to some of your questions.

Senator FRIST. That will be fine.

Dr. GABRIEL. Since it was established in 1977, the NEHRP partnership has helped the Nation reduce its vulnerability to earthquakes through the development and application of new knowledge and innovative technologies. The National Science Foundation has participated in this partnership since it was created by supporting extramural university research and education.

NSF's NEHRP activities center in our Directorates for Geosciences and Engineering in the budget. NSF continues to fund a robust portfolio of earthquake-related research in the fields of earth science, earthquake engineering and earthquake-related social science, as well as multi-disciplinary projects that may draw upon contributions from other fields. NSF remains the most important source of government funding for fundamental university research in earthquake engineering and for the investigation of the socioeconomic aspects of earthquake hazards.

The fundamental earthquake research funded by NSF complements both the intramural and extramural research carried out by the U.S. Geological Survey and by the efforts of the other agencies here.

Awards to individual investigators and small groups remain at the heart of NSF support of earthquake related research and education. Analytical, computational, experimental, and field research supported by NSF are contributing to a fundamental understanding of the causes of earthquakes and their effects on the built environment and societal institutions.

More focussed and problem-oriented research activities include groups of coordinated projects and earthquake centers. The Southern California Earthquake Center, which is funded jointly with the U.S. Geological Survey, is a consortium of institutions which is administered through the University of Southern California. This center has combined insights from seismicity, new geodetic technology, new geologic discoveries and local site conditions to improve our understanding of the earthquake hazard in Southern California.

The National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research is a consortium of several universities which has its administrative headquarters at the State University of New York at Buffalo. It was originally funded in 1986, and its major NSF funding was completed in fiscal year 1996. This center has developed seismic vul