In the early to mid-1990’s, the State Earthquake Program Managers met as “EPIE” or “Earthquake Program Information Exchange” work group. These meetings were held on an annual basis and sought to foster relationship building across state and federal earthquake programs, and to increase the visibility of the NEHRP. EPIE met until the mid-1990’s, at which time the group informally disbanded. In 2003, Senior Earthquake Program Managers (Bob Carey, Utah; George Crawford, Washington; Jim Wilkinson; formerly Mississippi) from the 1990s worked to revive the positive experiences of the EPIE-era by organizing the first National Earthquake Program Managers Meeting.
In 2004, the National Earthquake Program Managers Meeting was held on September 27, 2004 in St. Louis, Missouri at the Adams Mark Hotel. This meeting was held in conjunction with the 2004 National Earthquake Conference and brought the states together to discuss regional and national earthquake program issues after a time where the earthquake program’s visibility was overshadowed by homeland security programs.
While there were no official meeting notes or outcomes from the 09/27/04 meeting, it was clear that the states wanted to continue to work together to build relationships and increase program visibility. The stage was set for future meetings and a collaborative national effort to strengthen the nation’s resiliency towards earthquakes.
An agenda from the conference can be downloaded by clicking here.
