OXFORD, Miss. – University of Mississippi civil engineering
faculty encourage the public to attend a workshop on
earthquake preparedness Nov. 13 at the Oxford Conference
Center, 102 Ed Perry Blvd.
The “Mississippi Workshop of Catastrophic Earthquake
Response Planning: New Madrid Seismic Zone” convenes at
8:45 a.m. There is a $25 registration fee, which includes
lunch.
The workshop is open to the general public but is
especially recommended for private companies with large
operations (i.e.: medical facilities and manufacturing
plants), school district safety officers, city/county
planners/administrators, building officials, emergency
response personnel and business continuity/risk managers.
Professional engineers will receive three professional
development hours for attending the morning session and one
PDH credit for attending the afternoon session.
Hosted by the Center for Community Earthquake Preparedness
at UM, the workshop is sponsored by the FEMA Department of
Homeland Security, University of Illinois, U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory
and UM’s School of Engineering.
“The Mid-America Earthquake Center at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Institute for Crisis
Disaster and Risk Management at George Washington
University have teamed to conduct this project,” said Chris
Mullen, UM civil engineering professor and CCEP director.
Mullen said the objective is to assess the vulnerability of
local and regional areas in the central and eastern United
States to New Madrid Seismic Zone earthquakes. States in
the NMSZ include Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky,
Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi.
A comprehensive assessment methodology, which utilizes
geospatial information data to predict hazard, inventory,
and fragility, has been implemented to provide detailed
estimates of losses in the study’s eight-state region.
Damages in the event of an earthquake could include
buildings, bridges, roads and railways, utility networks,
airport locations, water and sewer treatment plants, and
natural gas and power generation facilities.
“This is the most comprehensive study to date and one of
only several such national scale studies sponsored by
FEMA,” Mullen said. “Agencies and individuals that may not
necessarily understand earthquakes but have special
knowledge of or work with databases in the state on
critical infrastructure are also invited to listen to what
the study has assumed and comment on its accuracy or
completeness.”
Presenters from FEMA, the Mid-America Earthquake Center,
the U.S. Geological Survey and Central U.S. Earthquake
Consortium are slated to share their findings at the
workshop, Mullen said. A panel discussion and open forum
follow the presentations to encourage feedback on the
potential impact of the findings on public and private
entities located or operating in Mississippi.
The deadline to pre-register for the workshop is Nov. 9,
said Dorothy Lloyd, senior secretary for the civil
engineering department.
“The earlier participants register, the better we can plan
the number of lunches and handouts,” she said. “Walk-in
registration is not a problem, however.”
To register for the workshop and for more information on
the Center for Community Earthquake Preparedness at Ole
Miss, visit
http://www.olemiss.edu/orgs/ccep
or contact Chris Mullen at cvchris@olemiss.edu or Dorothy
Lloyd at dalloyd@olemiss.edu. For assistance related to a
disability, call 662-915-5370.