OPINION PAPER A Challenge to Earthquake Engineering

Recent earthquakes have caused unacceptably high death tolls. We, the editors of the World Housing Encyclopedia, believe that reducing such an un-acceptably high loss of life from earthquakes is the most important challenge facing the global earthquake engineering community. This paper acknowl-edges the continuing disparity between life loss from earthquakes in devel-oping and developed countries, and the increasing vulnerability in developing countries. A sampling of current efforts to improve construction practices in-cludes the publication of earthquake tips in India, construction manuals in Colombia, and the formation of various international networks to promote collaboration and information sharing. Future possibilities include more re-wards for research into inadequately engineered construction, greater empha-sis on small-scale, local efforts, and a stronger emphasis on advocacy. We be-lieve that all of us, as earthquake professionals, have a responsibility to make the built environment safer worldwide. [DOI: 10.1193/1.1809130] OUR OPINIO