Seattle Earthquake Conference Tackles Tsunamis
Webcast Q&As Allow Access to World-Class Tsunami Experts
Release Date: March 14, 2008
Release Number: R10-08-076
» 2008 Region X News Releases
SEATTLE, Wash. -- Hundreds of geoscientists, engineers, insurance regulators, building officials, emergency managers and earthquake professionals will converge in Seattle to take part in the National Earthquake Conference, 22-26 April 2008, at The Westin Hotel. The conference includes presentations from world-class tsunami experts, and according to Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup (CREW) Executive Director Bob Freitag, you don't have to be an expert-or even attend the conference-to participate.
"This year, we've incorporated a unique webcast option in the conference that not only allows our engaged citizenry to view the tsunami session at no cost, but allows access to real-time question and answer sessions with the presenters," said Freitag. "Invited international presenters include Dr. Ananda Mallawatantri, U.N. Development Program, Sri Lanka; Patra Rina Dewi, KOGAMI Tsunami-preparedness NGO, Pandang, West Sumatra Indonesia; and Chairat Sukkuban, Deputy Mayor, Phuket, Thailand, offering first-hand experience and eyewitness accounts of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami response and recovery operation."
Local host presenters include George Crawford, Washington State Emergency Management Division; Brian Atwater, U.S. Geological Survey; Chris Jonientz-Trisler, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Eddie Bernard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Tsunami Session Webcast is scheduled for Thursday, 24 April 2008 at 7:00 p.m. PDT. The session can be viewed at
www.earthquakeconference.org
(from the homepage, click on "Tsunami Session - view and post questions") or
www.UWTV.org
, 15 minutes before the session begins.
The Seattle conference is hosted by CREW, the Western States Seismic Policy Council (WSSPC), Central United States Earthquake Consortium, Northeast States Emergency Consortium, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the Emergency Preparedness for Industry and Commerce Council of Canada, and supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the United States Geological Survey.
Additional information on this year's conference is available at:
www.earthquakeconference.org
.
