LFE Travel Study Program

Purpose

The LFE Travel Study Program aims to inspire early-career participants to become future leaders in the field of earthquake engineering and earthquake risk reduction.

Goals

Provide opportunities for EERI members to engage in learning from earthquakes activities as an alternative to participation in the limited post-earthquake reconnaissance opportunities.
Foster dialogue and interaction amongst members in various disciplines, as well as participants and the host country.
Provide an experience that allows younger members to gain stronger connections to EERI and its LFE program, while also inspiring them to become future leaders in the field of earthquake engineering and earthquake risk reduction.
Increase the participants’ knowledge in a wide range of earthquake engineering, earthquake response and recovery topics related to both research and practice; and encourage thinking about earthquake risk mitigation, preparedness and planning.
Offer EERI members a unique opportunity to learn directly from local experts in the field, facilitating international knowledge transfer.
Provide learning experiences that inspire participants to apply lessons learned to preparedness in their own community upon return home.
Engage experienced members who have conducted reconnaissance for EERI after past earthquakes and provide them an opportunity to transfer their knowledge to the future generation of members via an exciting activity.

Learning Objectives for Participants

Recognize the value of both immediate and long-term reconnaissance activities.
Know, for the visited region, the earthquake impacts; current levels of recovery to natural, built, economic and social environments; and constraints and challenges to recovery and the rebuilding process.
Make connections between impacts, reconnaissance, and lessons learned, etc.
Understand the multidisciplinary processes and components and challenges in earthquake recovery.
Understanding the interdependencies and coordination necessary among the many disciplines involved in earthquake risk reduction and the differences around the world.

Upcoming Programs

The next Travel Study Program will take place in 2025 in Mexico!

For more details about the 2025 program and information about how to apply, please visit https://www.eeri.org/about-eeri/news/23537-learning-from-earthquakes-2025-travel-study-program-to-mexico-applications-are-now-open.

Past Programs

2019 LFE Travel Study Program: New Zealand

The second LFE Travel Study Program took place May 5-12, 2019. The program was developed in partnership with QuakeCoRE, the New Zealand Centre for Earthquake Resilience. The 24 participants represented a diverse spectrum including social sciences, earth sciences, and engineering. The Program activites are summarized in the Schedule-at-a-Glance.

Participants

Margaret Ackerson, Esther Aigwi, Christine Beyzaei, Cristina Cordova Arias, Ribu Dhakal, Nicole Errett, Tali Feinstein, Ana Haro, Troy He, Kristen Hess, Anne Hulsey, Ezra Jampole, Seokho Jeong, Maria Luisa Jiminian Morales, Yolanda Lin, Xin Ma, Andrew Makdisi, Ashley Morales-Cartagena, Angel Perez Irizarry, Shakti Raj Shrestha, Adrian Tola, Eddie Vega, Sarah Wichman, Marie-Claire Pascua, Shreya Thusoo.

Group Reports

2017 Travel Study Program: Santiago, Chile

The first LFE Travel Study Program took place January 14-18, 2017 in partnership with Centro Nacional de Investigación para la Gestión Integrada de Desastres Naturales (CIGIDEN) of Santiago, Chile. The 16 participants and 4 expert mentors benefited from lectures on damage and recovery from recent earthquakes in Chile and visited repaired facilities, facilities built to new codes, in particular those with seismic protection, a tsunami warning center, social housing projects, and an engineering research and testing lab. Participants completed two projects: observations of resilience in housing, healthcare, schools, and business; and assessment of tsunami evacuation routes. Participants produced two sets of reports, Resilience Reconnaissance Observations by EERI and CIGIDEN and Tsunami Resilience Observations by EERI and CIGIDEN, can be found here:

Resilience Reconnaissance Observation Reports: these summary reports were developed by teams of participants based on their learnings from the trip.
Tsunami Resilience Observation Reports: these activity reports were created to summarize findings from an interactive tsunami evacuation activity during the trip.

2017 LFE Travel Study Program participants in mentors in in Santiago, Chile. (Photo: Wael Hassan)

Participants

Quinn Peck, Sandra Hyde, Alexandria Julius, Ana Maria Parra Bastidas, Laura Hernandez, Catherine Johnson, Chad Norvell, Alvaro Rubinos, Preetish Kakoty, Barbara Simpson, Marisella Ortega, Wael Hassan, Laura Whitehurst, Kelsey Wittels, Keshab Sharma, and José Luis Baquedano.

Mentors

Mary Comerio, Farzad Naeim, Judith Mitrani-Reiser, Juan Carlos de la Llera, and Matias Hube.

Participant Feedback

“I participated in the inaugural LFE TSP in 2017 in Chile. I found it to be very worthwhile in many aspects. Our field trips were well planned with great opportunities to interact with locals and learn from their experiences during and after the earthquake. The focus was interdisciplinary and practical. I learned a lot about the state of practice in Chile, including state-of-the-art engineering and some great, cost-effective seismic solutions for low-income housing. And perhaps most importantly I enjoyed meeting young colleagues from around the world, both professionals and academics, and working with them to report our findings back to the earthquake engineering community.”
—Laura Whitehurst, 2017 Chile Travel Study participant

Management

Thalia Anagnos serves as the Chair of the LFE Travel Study Program.

Questions?

Please contact the EERI National office with other questions related to LFE Travel Study Program at eeri@eeri.org.