This release can be found in the USGS Newsroom at: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2314.
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Recovery Act Funds Will Upgrade Earthquake Monitoring
USGS will Grant Universities
$5 Million to Beef Up Public Safety
Grants totaling $5 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act are being awarded to 13 universities nationwide to upgrade critical
earthquake monitoring networks and increase public safety.
“These stimulus grants will save lives as well as create jobs,” Secretary
of the Interior Ken Salazar said today. “More than 75 million Americans
in 39 states face the risk of earthquakes. Through the modernization of
seismic networks and data processing centers, scientists will be able to
provide emergency responders with more reliable, robust information to
save lives and reduce economic losses.”
Grants are awarded by the U.S. Geological Survey, and monitoring is a key
component of the USGS Advanced National Seismic System. ANSS is a national
network of sophisticating shaking monitors placed both on the ground and
in buildings in urban areas. The ANSS "strong motion" instruments
give emergency response personnel real-time maps of severe ground shaking
and provide engineers with information to create stronger and sounder structures
for homes, bridges, buildings, and utility and communication networks.
“These investments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will
provide jobs for the manufacturers of the equipment, the geophysical contractors
who perform installations, and the colleges and universities that run regional
earthquake networks and are training the next generation of earthquake
scientists in partnership with USGS,” Salazar noted.
In California and other high-hazard regions, some parts of the current
system include 40-year-old technology, and even the systems most recently
upgraded date back to 1997. Think about what a 12-year-old computer looks
like. Stimulus funding will replace old instruments with state-of-the-art,
robust systems across the highest earthquake hazard areas in California,
the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, the Intermountain West, and the central
and eastern United States.
The new monitoring systems will be more energy-efficient than the ones
they replace and will make solar power the primary power source in remote
locations. Engaging students in the siting and installation will provide
a unique educational experience and help to train the next generation of
earthquake scientists.
Because the investments will modernize aging equipment at existing stations,
they do not represent out-year commitments and the new equipment should
lower future maintenance costs. The investments in earthquake monitoring
meet the stated Recovery Act criteria of being "temporary, targeted
and timely" – spending that will flow directly into the economy.
Universities receiving funding include: Montana Tech of the University
of Montana; California Institute of Technology; University of Oregon; University
of Utah; University of California, San Diego; University of Washington;
Saint Louis University; University of Memphis; Boston College, University
of Nevada, Reno; University of California, Berkeley; Columbia University;
and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
For more information, visit the Department
of the Interior Recovery Investments
Web site.
USGS provides science for a changing world. For more information, visit www.usgs.gov.
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