The Nevada Earthquake Safety Council met from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on 15 May 1998 on the University of Nevada, Reno campus.
Ron Lynn chaired the meeting.

Individuals attending the meeting are members of the Council:
Ron Lynn*, Clark County Building Department
John Anderson*, UNR Seismological Laboratory
Mike Blakely*, Structural Engineers Association of Nevada
Wayne Carlson*, Nevada Public Agency Insurance Pool
Bob Cullins*, Las Vegas Emergency Management
Ben Edgar*, Lyon County Public Works
Mark James*, Nevada State Senator
Larry Johnson*, Black Eagle Consulting Inc.
Mike Klein*, Converse Consultants
Bill Lowry*, Public Utilities Commission
Barbara Luke*, UNLV Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Jon Price*, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Jim Reagan*, Sierra Pacific Power Company
Burt Slemmons*, University of Nevada, Reno (retired, Las Vegas consultant)
Charles P. Watson*, Advanced Geological Exploration and Seismo-Watch
John Bell, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Kamala Carmazzi, Nevada Division of Emergency Management
Craig dePolo, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Diane dePolo, UNR Seismological Laboratory
Bruce Douglas, UNR Department of Civil Engineering
Sandra Draper, Douglas County
Terri Garside, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Debbie Hinman, Nevada Bell
Gene Ichinose, UNR Seismological Laboratory
Carl Johnson, Geologist
Gary Johnson, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Wing Lowe, Nevada Division of Insurance
Rod McInnis, Nevada Department of Transportation
Gary Norris, UNR Department of Civil Engineering
Rebecca Ossa, Nevada State Historic Preservation Office
John J. Perry, IRIS, Boulder City
Alan Ramelli, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
David Sanders, UNR Department of Civil Engineering
Ron Sagen, Douglas County 9-1-1
Frank Siracusa, Administrator, Division of Emergency Management
Jim Werle, Converse Consultants

* indicates member of the Board of Directors.

A quorum of directors (the necessary 11) was present.

Board Members not attending included:
Bernie Anderson*, Nevada State Assemblyman
Norm Denny*, Douglas County
Steve Drummond*, Pegasus Gold/Florida Canyon Mine
Craig Heidel*, State Farm Insurance
Steven Horsford*, R & R Advertising, Nevada Resort Association
Gary Pierson*, Storey County School District.

The minutes from the meeting on 27 February 1998 were approved.

Announcements

The next meeting of the Nevada Earthquake Safety will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, August 21, 1998, in Las Vegas. Additional meetings planned include:

Friday, November 20, 1998, in Reno

Friday, February 19, 1999, in Las Vegas (tentative)

Friday, May 21, 1999, in Reno (tentative)

Friday, August 27, 1999, in Las Vegas (tentative)

Friday, November 19, 1999, in Reno (tentative).

Announcements and registration forms for the Western States Seismic Policy Council and Council of State Governments "Western United States Earthquake Insurance Summit," June 24-26, 1998, in Sacramento were distributed. If you would like a copy of this information, please contact Jon Price (784-6691 extension 126).

Committee Reports

Awareness and Education Committee

Diane dePolo reported on activities during Earthquake Awareness and Preparedness Week in mid April (see attached written report). She noted that prizes were donated by the Nevada Broadcasters Association, and Nevada Bell and Sierra Pacific helped with copying and mailing items. The committee is still looking for sponsors to help underwrite the costs of a calendar to be distributed this fall.

Circus Circus will be hosting a Safety Expo on May 30; volunteers are welcome. Please contact Diane dePolo (784-4976).

Charlie Watson reported that Seismo Watch on SNCAT is moving forward. He has put together a proposal to Frank Siracusa and the Council for $6,500.

Response and Recovery Committee

Bob Cullins reported that a statewide integrated emergency management system is under development. The Nevada Division of Emergency Management (NDEM) is looking at a wide range of training programs. A common radio frequency is likely to be very expensive (millions of dollars) and therefore somewhat unlikely. The committee is interested in developing community emergency response teams and is requesting $5,800 for a pilot project along these lines. The committee is working on mutual aid with other states with regard to hazardous materials and on incident-command-system training.

Ron Lynn noted that fire departments in Clark County are developing computer aided dispatching. He encouraged an all hazards approach to many of the response and recovery issues.

Frank Siracusa noted that NDEM is looking at an emergency management aid compact with other western states. Ron Lynn encouraged that mutual aid agreements be established within the state itself as well.

Mike Blakely highlighted the need for mutual aid agreements across state boundaries with regard to trained engineers from the private sector.

Engineering and Architecture Committee

Mike Blakely reported on the subcommittee that is looking at whether provisions of the 1997 Uniform Building Code (UBC) should be adopted, particularly with regard to western Nevada. Most individuals and groups are putting more emphasis on the UBC 2000.

Dave Sanders is working with Mike Blakely on a possible demonstration project using the engineering shake tables at UNR. Because time on the shake tables already is scheduled for the next year, such a project will need to wait.

Mike Blakely has been working on the development of FEMA 178, a document on seismic analysis of existing buildings. The first draft is being reviewed.

Ron Lynn noted that southern Nevada has adopted UBC 1997 and suggests that western Nevada communities also do this and, if necessary, adopt separate amendments with regard to seismic design requirements.

Geoscience Committee

John Bell reported that the committee has two active subcommittees (see attached written report).

Gary Norris is overseeing a subcommittee developing guidelines for investigation of liquefaction hazards, with input from geotechnical experts in both southern and northern Nevada.

Another subcommittee is looking at assessing probabilisitic seismic hazard maps for Nevada with regard to applicability of the IBC 2000 maps. The subcommittee is looking at modifying the IBC 2000 maps to be most useful for Nevada. The Engineering and Architecture Committee is overseeing the building code aspects, and the subcommittee of the Geoscience Committee is working on a prototype map, which George Ghusn has volunteered to evaluate in terms of implications for engineering design. The map will be reviewed by both the Geoscience and Engineering and Architecture Committees to come up with a consensus map, approved by both committees. This map would then be presented to the full council for approval.

John Bell also noted that FEMA Publication 313, on promoting adoption of building codes, would be helpful to the Geoscience and to the Engineering and Architecture Committees. Frank Siracusa volunteered to order 40 to 50 copies of this publication and forward them to the committees.

Risk Assessment Committee

Craig dePolo reported on a few ideas that the committee has considered.

One is to create a series of awards of excellence for various mitigation projects (for example, for different types of buildings and for students.)

A second idea is to focus on a single mitigation project during Earthquake Awareness Week, such as securing bookshelves. This might involve a short message on how to anchor bookshelves. Perhaps during the next year something else could be done. The emphasis will be on getting something done.

Charlie Watson applauded the second suggestion.

Craig dePolo asked for feedback to him or Craig Heidel on these ideas. The committee will make specific recommendations at the next meeting of the Council.

Diane dePolo suggested that the Awareness and Education Committee and the Risk Assessment Committee get together on these ideas.

Ron Lynn brought attention to an ICBO video on bolting down items in homes and offices.

Strategic Planning Committee

Jim Reagan reported that the committee did not meet in the last quarter.

Ad Hoc Committee/Project Impact

Jim Reagan provided a written report (see attachment) on the committee's activities regarding FEMA's Project Impact.

Bob Cullins noted that FEMA is learning more about how to get the program underway.

Frank Siracusa reported that FEMA is looking seriously as the City of Sparks and Carson City as possible communities for FY'99 funding. In the following year, there may be one or two more communities selected in Nevada.

FEMA is putting most of its current focus on mitigation and counters to terrorism.

Technical Updates and Informational Items

Progress on Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Maps

John Bell updated the council on the development of probabilisitic seismic hazard maps that can be alternatives to the UBC 2000 maps produced by the U.S. Geological Survey. The draft UBC 2000 maps show more detail than most earthquake experts believe is warranted by our knowledge of the geology and seismology of the state. The approach that the Geoscience Committee is using is to use the USGS data (a grid with values approximately every 4,800 meters) but analyze, contour, and present it differently.

Gary Johnson gave a presentation on how the maps are being prepared. An eighth order trend analysis is applied to the USGS grid. Adjustments can be made to depict areas within different contour intervals, so that, for example, Reno and Sparks fall within the same general area.

John Anderson and Craig dePolo questioned whether there is a problem with smoothing the data whereby there is a lower apparent hazard in some areas. Mike Blakely noted the problem of not having a very complete record of earthquakes (only 50 years or so of good data).

John Anderson maintains that we do not have enough seismologic or geologic information to argue that the hazard is higher on one side of the valley of the Truckee Meadows than the other. The whole area should be in the same design category.

Interpretations and uses of the new map of Earthquakes in Nevada, 1852-1996

Craig dePolo and Diane dePolo discussed the earthquake epicenter map recently released by the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology (Map 111). This map was distributed to all Nevada schools during Earthquake Awareness and Preparedness Week. There are gaps on the map because there are too few recording stations in eastern and northern Nevada to locate small (less than magnitude 4) earthquakes.

John Anderson noted that the number of major historical earthquakes in Nevada is about one third of the number in California. The Reno-Carson City region has had about one half as many large earthquakes as an area of the same size around San Francisco, but can not expect earthquakes as large as a magnitude 8 that could occur on the San Andreas Fault there. Nevada ranks third, behind Alaska and California, in terms of seismic hazard. Craig dePolo also noted that between the 1930s and the 1950s Nevada was more active than California.

Tour of the Earthquake Shake Tables

Professors David Sanders and Bruce Douglas, UNR Department of Civil Engineering, provided a tour of the shake tables and explained the research being done with them. The laboratory is a world leader in research on the effects of earthquakes on structures such as supports for bridges.

Implications of recent article in Science magazine on "Anomalous Strain Accumulation in the Yucca Mountain Area"

Alan Ramelli discussed the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine ground motions, particularly near Yucca Mountain. Across the entire western Basin and Range or Great Basin there appears to be extension of the crust of about 10 millimeters per year (mm/yr). The recent article in Science, by Cal Tech Professor Brian Wernicke and others, reports a rate of extension of about 1.7 mm/yr across a short distance (34 km) in the Yucca Mountain area.

A rate of 1.0 mm/yr across the Crater Flat area would be surprising, perhaps 10 times faster than expected from the fault motions that can be determined from geologic data. Explanations include possible linkages to the Little Skull Mountain earthquake and the Landers earthquake, which apparently triggered the Little Skull Mountain earthquake; linkage to volcanism or faulting near Yucca Mountain; and measurement errors.

Q: Would a dense GPS network around the Genoa fault help with understanding or predicting earthquakes.

A: Yes, but the cost is high. Savings can be made by using periodic campaigns rather than continuous receivers.

Burt Slemmons noted that Gilmore (USGS) reanalyzed geodetic data back to 1915 (from Beatty southeast to Las Vegas) and concluded that, except for a section from the Amargosa River to Lathrop Wells, rates of ground motion have been minimal. The higher rate near Lathrop Wells perhaps implies a broader area of anomalous crustal strain than just the Yucca Mountain area proper.

John Anderson noted a couple of significant implications from the GPS article in Science. One is that it might stimulate funding for Cal Tech to establish a continuous GPS network in southern Nevada, which would have broader benefits regarding seismic hazards in the Las Vegas area. Another is that, if Wernicke's study is correct, there are implications regarding the seismic hazards at Yucca Mountain. John Anderson also noted that the present seismic hazard study at Yucca Mountain is reasonably consistent with the USGS hazard map that is being used by the Geoscience Committee in its work on seismic codes in Nevada.

Frank Siracusa noted that an Integrated Emergency Management Course that is scheduled for the following week in Emmitsburg, Maryland will involve 82 Washoe County and state officials using the council's scenario for a major earthquake in western Nevada (Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Special Publication 20). FEMA offers nine such courses nationwide each year. Upon return from the course, there will be opportunities to promote earthquake awareness and mitigation to the public and other state and local officials.

Frank hopes to get more information on FEMA's Project Impact in the next few weeks.

Frank expects that there will be some excess FEMA funds near the end of this federal fiscal year (September 30). He would like to have some defined projects from the council by about the end of June. The Executive Committee of the council will provide Frank with a prioritized list of projects, each with a specific dollar amount.

Not much has been done on the All Hazards Council up to this point. It will be established through regulation. There should be at least one individual from the NESC on the All Hazards Council. The projects for the All Hazards Council can be broadly defined, but there must be products at the end.

Ron Lynn suggested that Applied Technology Council (ATC) courses, including rapid initial evaluation, in-depth evaluation, and inventory, should be offered statewide to help build better intrastate coordination.

OLD BUSINESS

John Anderson recalled that at a previous NESC meeting there was some discussion of whether there should be formal statements about probabilities of additional earthquakes after any significant earthquake. He distributed a draft generic "preliminary forecast of expected aftershock activity," following what the California Earthquake Prediction Council has prepared, also in draft form. He asked whether NDEM would find such information useful. He also noted that an aftershock sequence can be highly variable.

Frank Siracusa responded that it would indeed be helpful. Craig dePolo echoed this feeling and noted that information about variability should be included in the press release.

Ron Lynn suggested that the section on a "larger mainshock" should be shortened and simplified.

Charlie Watson suggested that a table summarizing this information might be helpful. He suggested producing such information for all earthquakes for which the Seismological Laboratory produces a press release.

When the Seismological Laboratory produces a press release, it goes to the press and to NDEM and other sources. John Anderson advised that a threshold of magnitude 4.5 or 5.0 be used for inclusion of information on preliminary forecasts of expected aftershock activity. He indicated that the Seismological Laboratory will release such information.

Logo

Ron Lynn, who has his heart set on having a logo prepared for the NESC, asked for ideas. John Perry offered to prepare a sketch of a Nevada, split between north and south by a seismogram. (Note from after the meeting: John Perry relayed his concept to Jon Price, who has instructed the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology's drafting group to spend a couple of hours drafting a logo for consideration).

More Technical Updates and Informational Items

Gene Ichinose, Graduate Student with the Seismological Laboratory, described the 1994 magnitude 6.0 Double Spring Flat earthquake. This was a left-lateral strike-slip event along a northeast striking fault plane in an area between two major active faults - the Genoa fault and the Antelope Valley fault zone. A week after the main event aftershocks were oriented both along the fault plane and approximately perpendicular to it. There have been 16 aftershocks of magnitude 4 or greater in the years since the main shock. Most of the earthquakes are strike-slip, unlike the dip-slip events that appear to be associated with major earthquakes in the geologic record of the region. He showed that dip-slip events on major faults would set up stresses that are favorable for the strip-slip earthquakes of this type, and he suggested that this type of mechanism could be more common in Nevada than previously thought.

John Bell noted that the Double Spring Flat earthquake reopened a fissure along the Eastern Carson Valley fault zone along the west side of the Pine Nut Range. This fissure had opened in 1988 without any known earthquakes in the immediate area (a radius of approximately 10 km).

NEW BUSINESS

Motion: Diane dePolo moved and Bob Cullins seconded that Nevada Earthquake Awareness Week be moved to the last full week of February. This would be February 21-27, 1999, immediately following the tentative date for the NESC meeting on February 19. The motion passed.

Motion: Jon Price moved and Burt Slemmons seconded that the Nevada Earthquake Safety Council encourages the use of GPS technology to determine deformation in Nevada and its implications for seismic hazards. The motion passed unanimously.

Chairman Lynn will send this resolution to the UNR Seismological Laboratory, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, and the UNLV Department of Civil Engineering.

John Anderson noted that UNR's Seismological Laboratory will be participating in a major proposal for a National Science Foundation-funded California Earthquake Center, as an extension of the Southern California Earthquake Center.

Funding Needs of the NESC

The following items were approved by unanimous votes of the council for inclusion in requests from the council to NDEM for funding, either from the council's budget or from federal fiscal year-end funds available to NDEM. At this time these are not listed in any priorities.

$5,800 for the Response and Recovery Committee to setup a pilot Community Emergency Response Team program.

$2,500 to $3,000 for the Response and Recovery Committee to arrange the ATC 20 course for both northern and southern Nevada.

$4,000 to $5,000 as matching funds to produce 7,000 copies of a home buyers guide for earthquakes in Nevada (similar to Utah's). Charlie Watson has a seed grant for $3,500 for the Southern Nevada Section of the Association of Engineering Geologists. He is soliciting sponsorship from the real estate community.

$1,500 for subsidizing Seismo-Watch items in rural newspapers in Hawthorne and Fallon.

$6,500 for Seismo-Watch on public access cable television, SNCAT .

$5,000 for Earthquake Awareness Week Activities.

$15,000 for an earthquake calendar to be produced by the Education and Awareness Committee. Bob Cullins noted that NDEM puts out an annual calendar.

John Bell noted that the Geoscience Committee is not certain when or if they will need budgeted funds for a workshop on zoning.

John Bell also noted that Gary Norris will be requesting funding for students to compile data on liquefaction.

The Executive Committee of the council will set the priorities. (Note made after the meeting: Chairman Lynn and Secretary Price will meet to discuss the priorities in late June; shortly thereafter the Executive Committee will deliberate by conference call or fax and e-mail.)

Individuals who have other ideas for projects to be funded, either during this federal fiscal year (through September 30) or next year, should submit them in writing to Jon Price.

REVIEW OF ACTION ITEMS:

Frank Siracusa volunteered to order 40 to 50 copies of FEMA publication 313, on promoting adoption of building codes, and forward them to the committees.

Ron Lynn will send a letter on the resolution that the Nevada Earthquake Safety Council encourages the use of GPS technology to determine deformation in Nevada and its implications for seismic hazards to the UNR Seismological Laboratory, the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, and the UNLV Department of Civil Engineering.

Individuals who have other ideas for projects to be funded, either during this federal fiscal year (through September 30) or next year, should submit them in writing to Jon Price.

ATTACHMENTS:
Written report of the Education and Awareness Committee
Written report of the Geoscience Committee
Written report of the Ad Hoc Committee on FEMA's Project Impact

respectfully submitted by Jon Price, 29 May 1998