Rapid Understanding of Earthquake Impacts

The California Earthquake Clearinghouse

Maggie OrtizEarthquake Engineering Research Institute

The California Earthquake Clearinghouse

Consortium of organizations Established in 1972 More than 10 activations

Role in Post-Earthquake Investigations

Facilitate coordination of post-earthquake field investigations and shares observations after a damaging California earthquake› Badging› End of day clearinghouse meetings

Relay relevant information to CalOES that can inform and speed up recovery process

What is relevant information?

Researchers, scientists, and practitioners will collect a variety of information:› Structural damage observations› Ground displacement measurements

Clearinghouse will monitor all incoming observations and extract observations that will provide situational awareness to emergency responders

Situational Awareness

Timeline: › ~5 minutes: Shakemap› ~30 minutes: HAZUS run initiated› ~60 minutes: HAZUS results› ~24 hours: Clear picture of what is actually

happening Decisions about aid requests need to

be made in the first 30 minutes - hour

Situational Awareness

Decisions about aid informed by local reports and damage estimates from HAZUS

Decisions made before the physical Clearinghouse is established

A virtual clearinghouse concept allows for sharing observations within a few hours of the event

This “ground-truthing” by experts along with information from local governments can inform the aid distribution process

Types of observations

Lifelines experts: in investigating effects on lifelines systems may inform the Clearinghouse of areas without water service or power

Structural engineers: general observations of damage in different areas can be compared with HAZUS estimates

Two-way street: HAZUS results can help reconnaissance teams decide where to go and observations in these areas help calibrate HAZUS models

Capturing the Data

Researchers and scientists will each have their own data collection methods

Need to have an interface that allows them to report urgent information outside of their normal protocol

The Clearinghouse is investigating a suite of mobile data collection tools as well as a data sharing app: SpotOnResponse

Data Collection: FieldNotes

Basics: Native app for iOS and Android phones. Record geotagged and data and time stamped notes.

Features› long text description › Annotated and captioned

photos› Audio and video clips

Sharing:› FNZ, KMZ, text file, PDF› Email, iTunes, DropBox,

FTP

Data Collection: Clearinghouse Fieldnotes Basics: Operating system

independent Html 5 web application

Features: › Geolocated› Text, photo› Discipline specific forms

Sharing: › Data stored in application

database› Records visible on the

application map or downloaded for viewing in other mapping applications

Data Sharing: SpotOnResponse Basics: Situational

awareness tool with data collection capabilities (in development)› Html 5 web application

Features: › map giving an overall sense

of the situation› Can import data from other

sources such as FieldNotesPro and Clearinghouse Fieldnotes

Sharing: › SpotOnResponse map can

be monitored in SOC and at Clearinghouse

Communicating with Emergency Managers

Continuing to improve ease of identifying important observations

A Clearinghouse seat in State Operations Center (SOC) will make it easier to communicate directly with emergency managers

Clearinghouse Representative monitoring SpotOnResponse and in direct communication with Clearinghouse physical location

How will it work?

The last major Clearinghouse activation was in 1994 after the Northridge earthquake

Notes from clearinghouse meetings informed emergency response

New technology presents its own challenges, but through exercises, the Clearinghouse is working to more quickly inform emergency responders, speed up the recovery process, and improve the resilience of California

Thank You

The California Earthquake Clearinghouse

www.californiaEQclearinghouse.org