Studies Of Social Aspects Of Earthquake Disasters: A Research Agenda For Cooperative Research Between China And The United States

The key to the successful implementation of scientific and engineering seismic hazard reduction is thorough understanding of how society---from individuals to organizations to governments---understands the earthquake threat, what can be done about it, and what capacity is needed to undertake remedial actions. Both China and the United States have acquired some such understanding about their own societies. However, they could learn from one another and speed up the process of planning relevant measures and implementing them, if joint and cooperative studies and research efforts were undertaken by social and other involved scientists from both societies. We in the United States have already undertaken such studies with colleagues in Japan and in Mexico, so our proposal is based in the reality of something that is possible