CUSEC - CCEP Awarded Grant from MEMA

University of Mississippi Center for Community Earthquake Preparedness Awarded $121,889
Grant to Conduct Earthquake Vulnerability Analysis in Mississippi.

On October 29, 2003, Robert Latham, Executive Director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, approved a contract with the University of Mississippi’s Center for Community Earthquake Preparedness (CCEP).

The funds will be used to form a statewide plan that will focus on identifying the risk from earthquakes throughout the state with special emphasis on the state’s northern and central counties that are within the New Madrid Seismic Zone.

MEMA Director Robert Latham addressing the audience

“ Through partnerships such as this, using the expertise available at the universities, we will be able to better identify the infrastructure and environmental aspects that may be affected when an earthquake occurs....We can then provide our state and local officials, as well as emergency managers with the information they need to better prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate future disasters. ”

Robert Latham, Executive Director
Mississippi Emergency Management Agency

The project will include computer modeling for counties throughout Mississippi using the loss estimation tool HAZUS. HAZUS estimates potential economic, social, and structural losses that could occur during and after an earthquake. With this information, communities will be able to take the necessary actions to avoid these potential losses. Click here to learn more about HAZUS.

Counties within the state that are part of the New Madrid Seismic Zone include: Tunica, DeSoto, Panola, Quitman, Coahoma, Marshall, Benton, Lafayette, Tate, Yalobusha, Tallahatchie, Grenada, Leflore, Sunflower, Bolivar, Lauderdale and Clarke.

CCEP Director, Dr. Chris Mullen is shown here describing the upcoming project

“This will allow us, before an earthquake even hits, to estimate the damage likely to happen both during and after the event,” said Chris Mullen, civil engineering professor and director of CCEP at Ole Miss. “Using finely tuned information in this program gives emergency managers a head-start on disasters because it gives them a chance to plan ahead.”

For more information about the project, contact Dr. Chris L. Mullen at cvchris@olemiss.edu or by phone at 662-915-5370.

CCEP Mission
The Center’s mission is to perform structural, geotechnical, and geological research projects and to implement this research through data collection, design, construction, and field investigation activities for the benefit of targeted communities with significant seismic hazards. Center investigators will work together and directly assist where possible the emergency management personnel, community planners, and business leaders in developing and conducting projects that will directly benefit the community, safeguarding both the local citizen and their livelihoods from the physical and economic losses sustained during earthquake events. Center projects will focus on quantifying local seismic hazards, site dynamic response properties, and structural response characteristics for critical facilities in the community, and developing and implementing cost-effective mitigation strategies.

For more information about CCEP, contact the center Director, Dr. Chris L. Mullen at cvchris@olemiss.edu or by phone at 662-915-5370.


	...a partnership to mitigate disasters and save lives
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