This award provides travel support to China for five U.S. academic researchers and two Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) representatives on the twenty-one member U.S. team to participate in the first China/USA Symposium for the Advancement of Earthquake Sciences and Hazard Mitigation Practices. This symposium is in response to a request from the President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to conduct a joint scientific exchange on earthquake hazard mitigation with invited U.S. expertise. The one-day symposium in Beijing, China and two-day field trip to the epicentral area of the 2008 M7.9 Wenchuan, China earthquake will be held from 19 to 21 October 2010. Two days of informal meetings with key Chinese government agencies and researchers working in earthquake-related fields will be held during the week of the symposium/field trip. The symposium/field trip is co-sponsored by EERI and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii. EERI will administer the travel grant, coordinate travel arrangements, and handle all administrative procedures involved.
Broader Impacts: The symposium will advance earthquake sciences and hazard mitigation practices in both China and the U.S., establish a baseline of state of the art earthquake engineering practices, and identify areas for future research of common interest, while enhancing cooperation and mutual understanding between the two countries.
Intellectual Merit: In this symposium, expert earthquake scientists, engineers, and hazard mitigation practitioners from China and the U.S. will meet and collaborate to identify and discuss the approaches and research taken by both countries to address common issues in earthquake hazard mitigation. This first meeting will help identify areas of future research and facilitate a continuing exchange of useful scientific, engineering, and planning knowledge and experience that could lead to safer buildings and reduced casualties in future earthquakes. The symposium and related meeting functions enable a multi-disciplinary team from the U.S. to interact with a very broad range of Chinese officials and researchers in the key ministries, universities, and institutes dealing with earthquake research, development of codes and standards, planning, hazard mitigation, and disaster response and recovery policies.
From October 18 to October 22, 2010, a group of 18 U.S. researchers and practitioners visited Beijing and Mianyang China. The trip, organized by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, was initiated at the request of Lu Yongxiang, the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He requested a joint scientific exchange between U.S. and Chinese earthquake scientists and engineers. There has been a long-standing relationship between the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and this relationship was strengthened after the Wenchuan earthquake. Both organizations realized the value in building stronger relationships between the U.S. and Chinese earthquake communities. The trip was co-sponsored by the China Science Center of International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, the Architectural Society of China, the China Academy of Building Research and the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design. The China Association for International Friendly Contact also contributed support. The centerpiece of the trip was a three-day symposium organized by the China Science Center of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences titled "The Advancement of Earthquake Sciences and Hazard Mitigation Practices." The first day of the symposium was held in Beijing, with a series of presentations from Chinese and U.S. participants. The next two days were spent in the field—in Mianyang and Beichuan County—understanding the effects of the devastating Wenchuan earthquake in 2008. A very powerful element of the field visit was a trip to the most devastated town of Beichuan, that has been left as a memorial to the earthquake, and to the new Beichuan County town, an architecturally innovative new town for 35,000 residents built in just two years. Photos of buildings as they were before the earthquake stand in front of many of the now collapsed or damaged structures, along with photos of the occupants who lost their lives. The fact that the entire town has been left essentially untouched made it an extremely powerful experience. The U.S. team also participated in two full days of meetings on Monday, October 18th and Friday, October 22nd, with other Chinese organizations involved in earthquake research, including the China Earthquake Administration, the China Academy of Building Research, the Ministry of Civil Affairs Natural Disaster Reduction Centre, Beijing Normal University-Academy of Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management, Tsinghua University-Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Project, the Center for Earth Observation and Digital Earth of the China Academy of Sciences, the China Development Research Foundation and several other institutions. The point of these meetings was to share information on earthquake research and practice, and to identify opportunities for future collaboration. The symposium, the field trip to Beichuan, and the two days of meetings, provided nationally and internationally recognized expert earthquake scientists, engineers, and hazard mitigation practitioners from China and the U.S. an opportunity to met and identify and discuss the approaches and research taken by both countries to address common issues in earthquake hazard mitigation. This was a first meeting among many of these experts, and was used to identify areas of future research and facilitate a continuing exchange of useful scientific, engineering, planning knowledge and experience that could lead to safer buildings and reduced casualties in future earthquakes. The symposium and related meeting functions represented an extraordinary opportunity for a multi-disciplinary team from the U.S. to interact with a very broad range of Chinese officials and researchers in the key ministries, academies, and institutes dealing with earthquake research, development of codes and standards, planning, hazard mitigation, and disaster response and recovery policies.
