The recent earthquake in Haiti highlights the tremendous suffering that earthquakes can inflict on some of the world's most vulnerable communities. While the role of earthquake engineering is of paramount importance in mitigating these effects, before we can improve our building standards it is absolutely crucial to gather first hand information on current building deficiencies. This research will fund UK based academics to participate in earthquake field investigations conducted by the Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation Team (EEFIT). in addition to this it will also enhance the quality of the data collected and its accessability to other researchers bydeveloping standardised field data collection methods. The grant will lasts for five years and in this time we will conduct five field investigations. Each investigation will comprise of a team of approximately six to eight people, two of whom will be UK academics and up to two PhD students and four from industry. They will spend approximately 7 days in the field making observations and collecting data. On their return, this data will be analysed and the findings disseminated to researchers, professional engineers and the community at large. This funding will allow rapid deployment of field investigations and the possibility to carry out longitudinal studies to assess recovery from catastrophic events. The grant will also provide funding for meetings with International partner institutions that deploy earthquake field missions (namely EERI, and GNS) in order to agree and develop standardised field mission protocols and data collection forms and tools.

Earthquake reconnaissance plays an invaluable role in earthquake engineering, as it enables the collection of perishable data on building performance that are otherwise unobtainable. Such data can be used to prepare damage statistics, calibrate and validate engineering models and crucially, to decide what design and/or construction deficiencies lead to inadequate structural performance. This research goes beyond the immediate needs of engineers as it can provide the evidence base for the development of new disaster risk reduction policies and mitigation practices worldwide. In the UK, earthquake field investigations have been conducted by EEFIT since 1982, reporting on the damage observed and inspiring research into building standards for earthquake resistant design and assessment. This research will use the experience gained in EP/I01778X/1 to continue and expand important work in reducing and eventually eradicating the risk of significant death, damage to the economy, and social upheaval resulting from earthquakes. This grant will enable UK based academics to continue to participate in earthquake field investigations conducted by EEFIT and to improve coordination with international equivalents in the USA, Australia and New Zealand, and Europe. grow UK earthquake risk reduction activities, improve the dissemination of EEFIT Mission findings and further increase their impact. Not only will this research continue to collect valuable information in the aftermath of a disaster, but it will also develop new methods of collecting and interpreting this data as well and further develop standard international disaster data collection protocols. This data will be housed in a unique future proof repository that will allow researchers and other stakeholders to easily access and use the information This is important as not only will it enable the UK to stay at the forefront of earthquake engineering research, but it will assist donor countries and other organizations to more accurately access the severity of the disaster and therefore to better target the correct amount of resource for relief and rebuilding efforts.