Report of the Observer Panel for the U.S.-Japan Earthquake Policy Symposium (1997)

Summary: From September 16–18, 1996, a U.S.-Japan Earthquake Policy Symposium was held at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. Hosted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the meeting involved high-level representatives from both the United States and Japanese governments as part of a new bilateral initiative for cooperation on policy and research to reduce earthquake losses. To help FEMA as it plans and implements this new program, this report by a panel of the Board on Natural Disasters of the National Research Council was charged to (1) "assess the outcomes of the Symposium" and (2) "identify important opportunities for future scientific and policy exchanges between the two countries."