International Travel Grant to Support U.S. Researcher Participation in the March 6-7, 2013 J-RAPID Symposium in Sendai, Japan

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The magnitude 9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011 impacted an extensive region of Japan and subjected the built environment and social systems of a technologically advanced society in a way unparalleled by any previous earthquake. The subsequent tsunami inundated and destroyed cities and infrastructure along hundreds of kilometers of coastline. The March 2011 event has significant implications for the northwest United States, particularly in understanding the likely impact of a great earthquake on the Cascadia subduction zone. As a consequence, the March 2011 event has been closely studied by U.S. researchers to understand these impacts, identify knowledge gaps, and begin to fill these gaps to mitigate future losses from events of this scale in the United States. Rapid response research investigations of this Japanese earthquake and ensuing tsunami were supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under a series of RAPID awards and supplements. RAPID grantees participated in a workshop at NSF in February 2012 to identify emerging research needs from this event and from major New Zealand earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. This workshop also included researchers from Japan supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) under J-RAPID awards to investigate the March 2011 event and from New Zealand who had investigated those recent earthquakes. This award supports travel for up to 15 U.S. researchers to participant in the final J-RAPID Symposium to be held in Sendai, Japan on March 6-7, 2013. Organized by JST and Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), this international event will include participation by researchers from France, Indonesia, Japan, and United States. Participation in this workshop will allow U.S. RAPID grantees to review progress since the February 2012 workshop in defining emerging research needs with Japanese colleagues and other international participants. Major topics to be discussed at symposium include research needs in geosciences (oceanography and geotechnical engineering), structures (tsunami impacts), nuclear power plants (communications and social sciences), and advanced technologies (information technology, social media, and robotics). The symposium will enable exchange of international experiences and reactions to the March 2011 disaster and share how different countries have realigned their priorities for research, preparedness, and recovery as a result of studying this event. Knowledge gained by participation in this symposium will be used to set research agendas and priorities for the next decade and beyond. Symposium participants will also identify collaborative opportunities for joint research and contribute to an acceleration of advances in earthquake hazard mitigation. Safer, more resilient communities in earthquake hazard zones in the United States and around the world are expected to be the long term impact. Dissemination of the findings and recommendations from the symposium will be made through the distribution of Symposium Proceedings to be published by the Japanese organizing committee. This award is co-funded by the Directorate for Engineering, Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation, and the Office of International and Integrative Activities.