Quick Response Studies
| The Social Impacts and Consequences of the May 12 2008 Wenchuan China EarthquakePrincipal Investigators: Dr. Tricia Wachtendorf (As part of a larger team of engineers and planners, headed by Marshall Lew
Study DescriptionA team sponsored by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
(EERI) and the Geo-Engineering
Earthquake Reconnaissance (GEER) Association carried out a
field investigation in conjunction
with Chinese colleagues from August
3-11 to document effects of the
May 12 earthquake. The EERI-GEER
team was invited by Professor
Zifa Wang, Director of the Institute
of Engineering Mechanics-
China Earthquake Administration
(IEM-CEA). Professor Junwu Dai
of the IEM-CEA accompanied the
team during the field investigation.
Under the leadership of Marshall
Lew of MACTEC Engineering and
Consulting in Los Angeles, the
team included experts in structural,
lifelines, and geotechnical engineering
as well as in disaster response
and recovery. EERI team
members were David Friedman
and Dennis Lau of Forell/Elsesser
Engineers, Inc.; Laurie Johnson,
urban planning consultant, San
Francisco; Tricia Wachtendorf of
the Disaster Research Center at
the University of Delaware, Newark;
and Jian Zhao of the University of
Wisconsin at Milwaukee. The GEER
team consisted of David Frost of
the Georgia Institute of Technology
in Savannah; J. P. Bardet of the
University of Southern California;
and Tong Qiu of Clarkson University
in Potsdam, New York. Observations
of other investigators who visited the earthquake-affected
region have also been incorporated
in this report. Study Related PublicationsWenchuan Earthquake Reconnaissance Team. 2008. Learning from Earthquakes: The Wenchuan, Sichuan Province, China, Earthquake of May 12, 2008, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) and Geo-Engineering Earthquake Reconnaissance (GEER) |
