Leading earthquake scientists, engineers, and policymakers convene so societies can better prepare to survive and recover

LOS ANGELES, June 26, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — New buildings are being designed with the latest building codes, millions around the world are participating in Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills, and insuring or retrofitting existing buildings is more accessible than ever. These advances help reduce the unfortunate economic losses and casualties caused by earthquakes. Yet, can still be done to minimize impacts on the many people around the world who live in earthquake-prone regions.

Follow the hashtag, #11NCEE, and conference host accounts @SCEC and @EERI_Tweets to join 11NCEE virtually! The National Conference on Earthquake Engineering is held every 4 years, with a theme this year of “integrating science, engineering, and policy.”

Engineers, scientists, and policymakers are convening this week, June 25 – 29, in downtown Los Angeles for the 11^th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering (11NCEE | #11NCEE). The conference brings together more than 1,200 professionals from 47 states and 37 countries, representing a broad range of disciplines: architecture, civil and structural engineering, seismology, geology, geophysics, geotechnical engineering, business, public policy, social science, regional planning, emergency response, and regulation.

“EERI is proudly organizing and hosting the 11^th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering 11NCEE.” says Earthquake Engineering Research Institute EERI‘s Executive Director Heidi Tremayne, “11NCEE is the go-to destination for learning about cutting-edge research in earthquake engineering.”

The 11NCEE theme is “integrating science, engineering, & policy.” The conference is co-hosted by the Southern California Earthquake Center SCEC.

“We’re finding new ways to work with engineers that help model the earthquake hazard in Southern California and beyond,” says SCEC‘s Christine Goulet, “This conference is a significant milestone on that track, an opportunity for scientists, engineers, and now policymakers to continue improving how they work together.”

At a Monday pre-conference workshop, SCEC detailed research into earthquake ground motions, and support available to earthquake engineers, largely featuring the newly released Utilization for Ground Motion Simulation web tool: https://data2.scec.org/ugms-mcerGM-tool_v18.4/. By adding localized information such as fault models, forecasting information, and how faults can break and where and how that energy can travel, the UGMS tool transcends traditional ground motion prediction equations, largely drawing on the SCEC CyberShake project.

In addition to plenary sessions, hundreds of other technical and special sessions throughout the week on earthquake science, engineering, and policy by leading experts will take place, as well as the highly anticipated undergraduate student seismic design competition.