What the IDNDR Has Meant to the Earthquake Community

Abstract

The International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) has had a profound relationship with the earthquake community. It was, in a sense, the brainchild of the earthquake community since the concept for the IDNDR was announced by Dr. Frank Press, then president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), at the 1984 World Conference on Earthquake Engineering in San Francisco. The earthquake community followed the call dutifully and provided full support, assisting NAS and the United Nations in establishing the 1990s as the IDNDR. This paper offers a firsthand look of the making of the Decade. It provides readers with a glimpse of the key events that had been shaping the practice of earthquake engineering before the arrival of the Decade. It offers the writers' observations and assessments on the changes in the emphasis in the earthquake community's practices—the shift from research and implementation, the periodical updating of our model building codes with the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program seismic provisions, the employing of mitigation as a power policy-making tool in replacement of the response mode of operation to help communities become disaster-resistant communities, and the emphasis on developing methods for retrofit of existing buildings and lifeline systems. IDNDR also prompted the establishment of the Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction (SNDR) within the National Science and Technology Council as the focal point to promote natural disaster reduction issues among all federal agencies. SNDR is now in a pivotal position to steer the nation's future directions in natural disaster reduction. IDNDR has played a much more significant role in mobilizing the international natural hazards community to work together to meeting the common goal. Examples of such efforts are cited in the paper. The decade of the IDNDR ends on December 31, 1999, but the threat from future earthquakes will continue. IDNDR helped raise the awareness level of the global community with regards to its citizens' perception of the existence of natural hazards, how these hazards could affect their daily life, and how such effects could be reduced or avoided. IDNDR means hope that, by working together, we could make our community more resilient against future natural disasters. The earthquake community will be there to continue its pivotal role, collaborating with other professionals toward accomplishing the goal for earthquake disaster reduction.