Implementation [USGS]

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Implementation [USGS]

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IMPLEMENTATION

The NEP will be led and coordinated by FEMA which will be responsible for the management, planning, reporting, and budgetary coordination of the Program through interaction with an interagency group composed of representatives of those agencies with programmatic interests in earthquake research and mitigation. FEMA will serve as a single point of contact within the federal government for information related to earthquake research and mitigation and will help to plan and direct workshops and other outreach activities aimed at transferring research results to state and local governments and the private sector . FEMA, together with the interagency group, will work with agencies conducting earthquake research and mitigation to formulate research priorities and provide these priorities to federal agencies for program formulation and ensure that unnecessarily duplicative research does not take place.

Participation in the NEP will be open to all agencies with activities that include earthquake research or loss mitigation. The NEP's membership will reflect the evolution of federal agencies' programmatic interests and capabilities since the formation of NEHRP in 1977. The scale of an agency's contribution to reducing the nation's earthquake losses may not be fully apparent until after a detailed budget and programmatic analysis has been undertaken.

Specific activities of the interagency group through FEMA will be to:

Advocate Program policies and practices;
Coordinate interagency strategic planning;
Recommend Program priorities that do not conflict with agency activities conducted in support of special or unique missions;
Compile the member agencies' annual accounting for earthquake-related Program funds;
Encourage and offer guidance to non-federal organizations and consortia in efforts to reduce earthquake losses;
Conduct periodic national forums and develop additional means to include the views; interests, and priorities of non-federal communities in the Program; and
Evaluate and report every two years upon Program performance and effectiveness to the President and the Congress.

The interagency group will be led by a full-time Program Director who will report to an Associate Director of FEMA. Several co-located, full to part-time associated officers detailed from other agencies with major earthquake research programs may aid the Program Director.

The Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction (SNDR) of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR), a committee within the National Science and Technology Council, will review the NEP on an ongoing basis, and communicate findings to the National Science and Technology Council.

Federal funding for the NEP is presumed to include those funds currently expended on earthquake issues by the NEHRP member agencies (United States Geological Survey [USGS], National Science Foundation [NSF], Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA], and National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST]) as well as other Federal agencies involved in earthquake research or loss mitigation technology development or implementation. Individual activities such as workshops or publications will be paid for directly by the sponsoring agencies. This report does not imply or intend redirecting budgetary authority between agencies, or propose actions that would impact agency activities conducted in support of special or unique missions. The non-Federal implementation of earthquake loss mitigation practices is not a direct fiscal responsibility of the program. Most cost decisions must be made at the State or local levels of government or by the private sector. Mitigation implementation is a long term investment which occurs over time periods of tens of years and is applied on an incremental basis. Success of the NEP will depend in large part on stimulating the actions of these groups to mitigate earthquake hazards.