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UTILIZATION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES The NEP embraces testing the usefulness of promising new technologies for understanding earthquakes and reducing earthquake-caused loss that have emerged since the original formation of NEHRP. Space-based technologies such as Global Positioning System (GPS) technology can be utilized to provide continuous-in-time measurements of how the ground is deforming in areas of earthquake risk, and Synthetic Aperture Radar remote sensing applications are being developed to provide a spatially continuous image of crustal deformation. Other new geophysical methods include high-performance seismometers and seismographs for recording broadband, high-dynamic-range ground motion which are being installed world-wide. These stations are particularly important for emergency response to damaging earthquakes and for recording the strong motion data needed for building design. Borehole tiltmeters, borehole strainmeters, and laser-ranging instrumentation measure ongoing distortion of the earth's crust and may eventually aid earthquake prediction. Paleoseismic methods have rapidly advanced in the last decade and enable identification of pre-historic earthquakes and improved estimates of earthquake recurrence intervals. Probabilistic seismic hazard methods have been developed to provide estimates of earthquake ground motion in areas of low recurrence (such as the eastern U.S.). New Geographic Information System (GIS) technology will be used to integrate the information from these and a variety of other data sets. New technologies in the area of earthquake engineering include advanced modeling and simulation of the dynamic, non-linear response of constructed facilities to earthquake effects, use of energy absorption systems, and passive and active control systems for reduction of structural response to ground shaking with resulting reduction in damage and interruption of functions, and innovative structural materials and systems such as high-performance composites for strengthening existing structures:
Strategy for National Earthquake Loss Reduction |