2004 – Earthquake Emergency Response System – “Three-Legged Stool” Approach

Roy Fenderson & Wayne Peck

Although most people realise that earthquakes cannot be predicted, the Community expects that Dam Owners will utilise leading edge technology and the latest scientific understanding of earthquakes to mitigate the impacts of significant earthquakes once they occur.

The rapid analysis of large earthquake events with respect to critical dams can greatly enhance an emergency response. In order to achieve this enhancement, three sequential, interdependent processes must be in place. These processes are data collection, processing of the data into intelligent warnings and responding to the warnings appropriately. The absence of any one of these three processes or three “legs of the stool” destabilises the other two – greatly reducing the effectiveness of the whole.

This paper will discuss how Hydro Tasmania and the Seismology Research Centre designed, operate and manage an innovative system that encompasses the first two processes, and how their results integrate into Hydro Tasmania’s Dam Safety Emergency Plan (DSEP).