| Home | Highlights | Intro | Objective | System | More |

Merging the Needs and Expertise of Different Disciplines Would Improve the Efficiency of Rescue Operation

In the field of earthquake hazards reduction and mitigation, there are many different disciplines and resources. The authors would like to present a short, simplified overview for those readers who are not familiar with the general principles governing the field of seismic hazards reduction.

The geophysical approach

During the last decade, major efforts in real time monitoring have originated in the seismic research community. One of their main focuses has been a thorough analysis of the basic geophysical principles behind seismic activity. For an analysis like this, it is of utmost importance that strong motion stations perform "classical" seismic instrumentation as far as possible. Logically, this high level of performance is a significant factor contributing to the cost of today´s networks.

The earthquake engineering approach

Another considerable research effort has been directed towards the monitoring of important civil structures as a way of providing critical information, sometimes including near real time condition assessment.

An additional benefit: Safeguard Alert Messaging

Emergency-related information from typical safeguard utilities in highrise buildings, hospitals, and hazardous industries (e.g. fire detection systems) could be conveyed directly to the crisis center whenever ordinary communications fail by using a public data collection service, called Safeguard Alert Messaging or SAM.

A joint effort

We think it makes sense to merge these three disciplines—basic and applied seismic information systems, status information about the built environment, and general Safeguard Alert Messaging—forming one consistent real time database for emergency management. This joining of forces would generate useful synergism at minimal extra cost.

We encourage feedback from both structural engineers and emergency managers.