George W. Housner, considered the father of earthquake engineering, passed away on November 10 at the age of 97. Housner died of natural causes in Pasadena, California. Housner was Braun Professor of Engineering, Emeritus, at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Advancing Earthquake Reconnaissance in MS Virtual Earth

An international consortium, including EERI, has supported the development of a first of its kind “social networking tool” for earthquake impact assessment - an online Virtual Disaster Viewer (VDV). Developed in conjunction with Microsoft Virtual Earth, VDV represents an exciting combination of new technologies, including satellite imagery-based damage and situation assessments by international teams of expert engineers, along with geo-referenced ground photographs and videos collected by field teams. VDV represents a new way of remotely viewing a disaster area and generating preliminary estimates of earthquake damage, when access to the affected area is restricted. It is currently being tested by a small group of EERI members, as well as representatives from other organizations in the consortium.

This new tool, which can be viewed here , provides a virtual experience of the disaster situation, for events where there is limited access to the disaster zone, and when experts are unable to visit themselves. It offers an alternative method of rapid and robust damage assessment, based on expert interpretation of satellite imagery, which can be validated later as field observations are made.

Four videos of presentations made at the October 7th Wenchuan Earthquake Technical Briefing at the California Institute of Technology are now available for online viewing by EERI members. Just log in and scroll to Online Presentations to view videos.

Andre Filiatrault, Ph.D., Eng., a professor at the University at Buffalo and leading expert on shake-table testing of structural and nonstructural building components, has been elected to a two-year term as director of MCEER. Prior to this Filiatrault served as deputy director of MCEER. He succeeds Michel Bruneau who stepped down from his MCEER post at the end of August. Filiatrault is also serving as EERI's Conference Co Chair for the 9th US National & 10th Canadian Conference on Earthquake Engineering: Reaching Beyond Boarders, July 25 – 29, 2010, Toronto, Canada.

Read A Letter on MCEER's Future , from the new director.

Read the complete press release from MCEER .

Announcement and Call for Nominations:

Beginning in 2009, the Bruce Bolt Medal will be awarded jointly by COSMOS , SSA , and EERI to recognize individuals worldwide whose accomplishments involve the promotion and use of strong-motion earthquake data and whose leadership in the transfer of scientific and engineering knowledge into practice or policy has led to improved seismic safety.

Nominations for the 2009 Bolt Medal will be accepted until October 31^st. Click here for more information about the award.

Presentations discussed scenario initiatives underway in various parts of the U.S., including Utah, the New Madrid region, and southern California.

The two day workshop was a lively combination of presentations by those who have already developed scenarios and could provide guidance on how to gather specific information, with small working groups where participants discussed scenario organization and construction, leadership, consensus building, administrative support, logistics, ownership, promotion, PR, and fund raising. Recommendations from the workshop will be used to develop a new website on scenario planning, as well as a summary document. Basic resource material from the workshop will be posted up on the scenario website, at www.nehrpscenario.org . Check the website frequently for new information.

Confined masonry under construction in Indonesia. [Photo: Build Change]

Confined masonry is a construction system where the masonry walls are built first, and the concrete columns and beams are poured in afterwards to enclose (confine) the walls. It has typically performed well in past earthquakes worldwide, when built according to code requirements. Its satisfactory earthquake performance is due to the joint action of masonry walls and their confining elements. A website has been created where information on this technology is being gathered and shared: www.confinedmasonry.org .