The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) is the leading non-profit industry membership organization dedicated to understanding earthquake risk and increasing earthquake resilience in communities worldwide. Our diverse multidisciplinary membership includes researchers, practitioners and students in architecture, engineering, geoscience, social science, planning, government, emergency management, public health and policy making. EERI has been bringing people and disciplines together since 1948.
The key activities of EERI involve advancing the science and practice of earthquake engineering and related fields. This requires understanding the impact of earthquakes on the physical, social, economic, political and cultural environments. EERI members contribute within their communities by building multidisciplinary networks, offering leadership and advocacy, mentoring, and training in technical knowledge. EERI seminars and conferences bring together researchers, practitioners, government officials and partner organizations through our global network of regional and student chapters, including the local Utah Chapter and student chapters at Utah State University and Brigham Young University.
Resulting multidisciplinary conversations provide the humanistic, societal and technical contexts needed to achieve community resilience, which also translates to other natural hazards. The work of EERI builds upon lessons learned from decades of past events worldwide, assembling pre-eminent expert earthquake rapid reconnaissance teams who have built a massive database of earthquake disaster data, reports and educational materials. This includes the EERI Learning From Earthquakes (LFE) program and the World Housing Encyclopedia.
The current goals of EERI are to enhance infrastructure and operations to more quickly connect reconnaissance lessons learned with recovery planning, radically growing the LFE program. For example, EERI contributed to the massive recovery needs in the Magnitude 7.8 2023 Turkey earthquake, now marking its one-year anniversary. An outpouring of volunteer efforts by EERI members built upon past collaboration with Turkey government officials who had adopted best practices of strengthening building codes and conducting earthquake drills and exercises in partnership with EERI members. Turkish officials then accepted an invitation to visit San Francisco in 2017 to connect with other officials and observe mitigation and resilience planning and programs.
Similar information sharing and lessons learned from the Magnitude 5.7 2020 Magna Utah earthquake culminated in Utah hosting a national workshop on functional rapid recovery and then hosting the National Earthquake Conference in 2022.
I personally have found association with EERI immensely rewarding, starting as a student at BYU over 25 years ago, inspired by mentors and advocacy from professors and visiting industry leaders. By attending conferences, I became fascinated with multi-disciplinary thinking and collaboration. Fast forward to today, we have abundant seismic resilience methods and tools at our disposal to advance community risk reduction in ways far better than before.
We invite AIA Utah members and affiliates to engage and learn more about EERI and contribute to intellectually stimulating dialogues and deep friendships from meaningful service to save lives. EERI members offer a rich diversity of culture, thought, technical excellence and geographic reach right here at the crossroads of the West.
