ResilienceNew $4 million facility at UW to investigate natural disasters worldwide
A new Post-Disaster, Rapid Response Research Facility at the University of Washington will provide necessary instrumentation and tools to collect and assess critical post-disaster data, with the goal of reducing physical damage and socio-economic losses from future events. The NSF’s $40 million NHERI investment, announced in September 2015, funds a network of shared research centers and resources at various universities across the nation. The goal is to reduce the vulnerability of buildings, tunnels, waterways, communication networks, energy systems, and social groups in order to increase the disaster resilience of communities across the United States.
In the days and weeks following an earthquake or hurricane, precious data about how buildings, bridges, roads, slopes, and people fared in the disaster may get lost forever if well-equipped researchers are not able to enter the field rapidly.
Unstable buildings get bulldozed without documentation of how they were damaged, making it difficult to assess how building codes might be improved. Weather washes away key clues that could help us build more resilient communities. Many households are displaced, and some businesses will close forever.
UW says that at the University of Washington, a new Post-Disaster, Rapid Response Research Facility funded by a $4.1 million National Science Foundation grant will provide necessary instrumentation and tools to collect and assess critical post-disaster data, with the goal of reducing physical damage and socio-economic losses from future events. Part of a $19 million investment announced Wednesday by the NSF’s Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure program, the RAPID Facility will make the data openly available to researchers, practitioners and policymakers.
“Often with rescue and response efforts, this very valuable data disappears really quickly,” said center director Joe Wartman, a UW associate professor of civil and environmental engineering. “By collecting this data in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, we can begin to understand what went wrong and why. This allows us to better prepare and take precautionary measures in advance of future events.”
