| Abstract |
As a series of high-impact earthquakes has made clear over the last few years, a stark contrast exists today between the effects of earthquakes in rich and developing nations. In terms of human life, the risk is overwhelmingly concentrated in the developing world, and predominantly in continental interiors, with the Alpine-Himalayan region and central Asia being particularly threatened. Many communities and cities in that region are known to be vulnerable because of past earthquakes, but now have considerably larger exposed populations. A first, and essential, step in reducing that vulnerability is to improve the level of knowledge and characterization of the hazard concerned; which is far below, for example, California or Japan. That task requires the engagement of scientists in the countries concerned, but would be greatly aided by the expertise available in the international scientific community, even in countries where the local scientific base is already strong. In particular, two geological effects contribute to continental Asia's special vulnerability. (1) Earthquakes in continental interiors typically occur on widely distributed faults that are poorly known and move relatively infrequently. By comparison, those on plate boundaries adjacent to oceans (such as Japan, Chile) occur on faults that are more localized, better known, and move more often. (2) Many human settlements in continental interiors concentrate (and then grow) in locations related to earthquake-generating faults, which control topography, water supply or trade routes. Improving knowledge and understanding of the earthquake hazard is therefore inescapably linked to the first-order scientific question of how continental tectonics works - a cutting-edge priority at the highest level in international science, which also requires the full range of observational, theoretical and technical capabilities now available to the scientific community. The issues involved in addressing earthquake hazard and earthquake science in the Alpine-Himalayan region and central Asia are therefore best tackled by international partnerships of scientists, which can help bring an appropriate mixture of expertise, technology, man-power and training to bear in each area or country. That is the point of the Partnership proposed here. The UK-based investigators in this proposal, principally from COMET+ *, the BGS (British Geological Survey) and Durham, are in a unique position to lead this Partnership, having been engaged on the ground or remotely in nearly all the countries concerned for a decade or more. This proposal originates from that point being made by non-UK participants at an international workshop in 2011, held specifically to address issues related to increasing resilience to earthquake hazard. This proposal is to facilitate the functioning of the Partnership through funding meetings, workshops and training activities, including a summer school and exchange visits, principally of young scientists between the UK and participating countries. The principal Project Partners, who will also contribute substantially to the costs, are Italy, Kazakhstan and China. Supporting members include Greece, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Others may join later. The intention is that the benefits and functioning of the Partnership continue well beyond the duration of the IOF award. *COMET+ is the Dynamic Earth and Geohazards Group of NERC's National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO): see (http://comet.nerc.ac.uk) |
