2011 Bi-Lateral Workshop Under the Sino-US Earthquake Studies Protocol

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This award provides support for a bi-lateral workshop under the SINO-US protocol for earthquake studies to be held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China during the period April 20-25, 2011.The Protocol for Scientific and Technical Cooperation in Earthquake Studies among the Chinese Earthquake Administration (CEA), the National Natural Science Foundation (NSFC) on the Chinese side and the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on the U.S. side was first signed in January, 1980 and has been extended in five year increments since then. Both sides have affirmed the value of the Protocol and consider it to be one of the most successful S&T protocols between the two countries. Activity under the Protocol covers various aspects of earthquake research, earthquake engineering and hazard mitigation and data exchange. The workshop will be the second one in a series that aims to plan and develop the coordination needed for scientific collaboration to move forward efficiently, effectively, and in a timely fashion. A particular focus of these workshops will be on promoting the exchange of data, methodology, and software, the training of students and fostering collaboration and exchange of early-career scientists. The workshop(s) will be designed to catalyze scientific collaborations, including plans for extended visits between US and Chinese scientists. The principal theme of this second workshop will be ?Great Earthquakes in the 21st Century and Geodynamics?. Great earthquakes during the first decade of the 21st century have killed more than 500,000 people and caused tremendous economic losses. These earthquakes differ from each other in terms of their tectonic environment and geodynamic processes, yet there are also some common features in both the rupturing processes and disaster scenarios. The complex thrust faulting associated with the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, for example, appears to differ substantially from the strike-slip faulting of the Haiti earthquake. Despite its lower magnitude, the Mw 7.0 Haiti earthquake caused more casualties than the Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake. The 2010 Yushu earthquake occurred in a remote and sparsely populated region of the interior of Tibet, but also caused significant human and property losses. Intensive studies following these great earthquakes have resulted in abundant observational data and new insights into the geodynamic processes of these earthquakes; comparisons of these studies will help to improve our ability to reduce seismic losses in future great earthquakes.