Campus news

Media Advisory: Earthquake engineers present findings from Chile recon trip

By Sarah Yang

ATTENTION: Reporters covering aftermath of Chile earthquake

WHAT

Engineers who recently traveled to Chile to document the effects of the region’s massive 8.8 earthquake will give their first public briefing at the University of California, Berkeley.

They will present preliminary findings – along with photos and video – from their investigation into the damage from the Feb. 27 quake and its many aftershocks. The presentation will highlight how building construction in Chile compares to that in the United States, and implications for the performance of U.S. cities in future large magnitude quakes.

The reconnaissance teams were led by UC Berkeley researchers and organized through the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s (EERI) Learning from Earthquakes program and the Geo-engineering Extreme Events Reconnaissance (GEER) Association, with funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation and the UC Berkeley-based Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center (PEER).

WHEN

3-5 p.m., Tuesday, March 30. The event will be webcast live at 3 p.m. online (site available by 2:45 p.m.). A video recording of the seminar will be available and posted to this Web page by April 2. Computers should have the latest version of Windows Media Player, RealPlayer or QuickTime.

WHERE

The auditorium in Room 310 of Sutardja Dai Hall, on the north side of campus. Directions to the building can be found online .

WHO

Speakers will include Jack Moehle, UC Berkeley professor of civil and environmental engineering and leader of the EERI team, and Jonathan Bray, UC Berkeley professor of civil and environmental engineering and co-leader of the GEER Association team.

DETAILS

The seminar is being jointly sponsored by EERI, GEER and PEER, a multidisciplinary research and education center involving researchers from more than 20 universities and several industry partners.

The findings of the EERI reconnaissance team, and links to photos, are online at the EERI Earthquake Clearinghouse Web site. Final observations and findings from the GEER team will also be posted on the GEER Association ‘s homepage.