loudest voices, one of the clearest voices in the world in the call for global action to address climate change. and there's a simple reason why he has a special interest. it is because climate change is already posing an existential threat to his country. but he's also one of the world's greatest advocates for the protection of the ocean well beyond the interests of his own country. under his leadership, his country has established one of the largest marine-protected areas in the world in the phoenix islands in the pacific. it's an honor to have him here to share his thoughts with us this morning. ladies and gentlemen, president dong. [applause]

>> thank you, secretary kerry. and, of course, our gracious hosts today and over the next couple of days. i wish to acknowledge your contribution this morning. thank you very much for that very inspiring statement. excellencies, friends of the ocean, ladies and gentlemen, let me begin by greeting you, bringing the greetings from the people of my country young, old and on whose behalf i'm very honored to be here to address this conference. in my country we usually begin by conferring blessings on each other, so let me do so to each and every one of you this morning. [speaking in native tongue] it is an honor, indeed, and a

great pleasure for me to be a part of this summit. let me begin at the outset by expressing my deep gratitude and appreciation and, of course, our congratulations to our host, secretary of state john kerry, and through you, to the government and the people of the united states, for this timely initiative and for the invitation to attend the summit. on an urgent issue focused on our oceans. the leadership and the commitment in saving our ocean and, indeed, our planet is one that we from the pacific region associate with very closely and welcome this initiative, indeed. i commend our host country's strong commitment for action against climate change, action against the blind pursuit of development without full responsibility for its impact on

our environment. this summit, i believe, is the beginning of more positive developments in this area. with strong leadership and more development partners. the theme of our summit, "our ocean," is, indeed, very significant. it serves to remind us of our shared and mutual ownership of the ocean and with which comes with it the shared responsibility and our -- [inaudible] to insure the health of our ocean for our children and their children and for future generations. as secretary just said, our planet earth is our shared hope. and unfortunately, the only one we have. ladies and gentlemen, for far too long human activityies and

our single mighty pursuit for short-term gains and profits have had severe impacts on the health of our environment. these include harmful fishing practices, illegal fishing, dumping of waste in the ocean, industrial activity which have caused excessive carbon dioxide emissions and, of course, the list goes on. in combination, these activities have greatly affected the health of our oceans and our planet and, of course, the ecosystems. these have resulted in what we see now, depletion of fishery stocks, increasing ocean acidification, color bleaching, sea level rise, increased ocean temperatures and a change to our climate system. never in human history has the health of our oceans and our

planet earth been so challenged. my country has often been referred to as a small island-developing state. but in reality we're a very large natural ocean state, and my people have been custodians over centuries of the surrounding ocean of around 3.5 million square kilometers, more than twice the size of the largest u.s. state of alaska. when i say the ocean is very much a part of our lives, our culture and our heritage, i do, of course, include not only my fellow pacific island nations, but also the united states of america. we share maritime boundaries with our waters strategically located as the u.s. pivot of the pacific.

furthermore, our ocean territory hosts part of the largest remaining tuna fish species with true commercial supply chains which are linked to united states businesses and consumers. in essence, through the oceans and the pacific as not only direct economic linkages for the united states, but it's also intricately linked with u.s. national security. ladies and gentlemen, the same case would apply to my colleagues -- [inaudible] this very same ocean has now raised a new major survival challenge. our people are now facing major challenges never faced before from the rise in sea levels. over the recent past, at the beginning of this year in

particular, we experienced the increasing severity of inundation and the ocean of our shorelines -- erosion of our shorelines caused by unusually high tides. in some parts of the country, villages have had to be relocated due to severe erosion. food crops have been destroyed and waters contaminated by the rising sea levels. this are alarming new experiences for us and are not part of -- [inaudible] my friend from the marshall islands during that period declared a state of emergency. science and our experience on the ground have given us ample proof that if we to not change direction can, it will be to our detriment. more so for our children and their children's children. very sadly, the pace of global action in response to this

nature calamity nowhere measures the degree of severity of the existential and survival challenges that sea level rise poses for our peoples and countries. climate change, as i've said time and time again, poses the greatest moral challenge of our time. it isn't about the survival of people, the survival of women, the survival of children, whole commitments, cities and nation -- communities, cities and nations. it isn't about economics. not anymore. it is not a political football. it is not about the course of who is responsible anymore. it is now about what we must do together as responsible global citizens. no one country can do anything on its own to affect the kind of changes required to deal or to address the challenge. it is our shared ocean and and our planet, and we need to work

together to address these enormous challenges. as -- [inaudible] we are the early warning system to the calamities emanating from sea level rise and the change of climate now facing the global community. we will fall, but when we fall, others will follow to be on the front line. and they, too -- and i'm advised that more than 70% of the cities and human settlements around the world are on coastal areas. they will be the next on the front line. ladies and gentlemen, one of our major hopes of responding to climate change lie also at the very ocean which is threatening us from sea level rise. we are, we host vast fishery resources within our exclusive economic zones in the various countries in the pacific. within our waters alone, our

fish resources are valued at around $500 million a year. but this is of no value to us, because at the moment we're only receiving around 8% of this amount. but given the amount of the value of the resources available to us, if we could harvest to a larger extent the value of those resources, it would provide us with the opportunity and the capacity to become more climate resilient and to be able to adapt in the way that we need to adapt in order to address the challenge. i believe that there should be more equity and justice in the business partnership within the fishing industry. custodians of such resources should be allowed greater meaningful participation in the industry. we believe that it will only be

through realizing the true value of this resource to us that we can provide the much-needed financial resources for adaptation to the change in climate. ladies and gentlemen, we recognize the critical importance of our ocean and the resources within for the future of our people. and accordingly, with the assistance of our partners, conservation international and new england aquarium, we established in 2008 one of the largest marine-protected areas in our part of the world. the phoenix islands protected area or pip as we call it. people -- [inaudible] world heritage site in 2010, and it's not only the largest living laboratory where scientists can study the natural environment, ecosystem in its pristine stages, but it is also a major spawning ground for tuna, so its

closure will have a major contribution to the conservation and to the rejuvenation of fish stocks and global security. for us it is an investment in the future. it is also our contribution to humanity, to the conservation and the preservation of marine life not only for us, but for the global community and for the generations to come. more importantly, it indicates our strong conviction to the global community that addressing the challenges of climate change calls for very serious commitment and sacrifice. the establishment of pipa has not been done without sacrifices. and as a small economy, the projected initial loss in revenue weighs very significantly in our consideration. but at the final analysis, we made the decision to persist

wefective, with effective, sustainable strategies. i'm very happy today to announce at this conference that we have taken the decision to fully close all commercial fishing activities within the phoenix islands-protected area wefect from the 1st of january, 2015. [applause] >> we have not stopped there. we have also recently taken an initial step to declare the 12-mile nautical zone surrounding each of the islands in the south group closed off from, also from all commercial fishing activities to allow for the marine environments surrounding these islands to remain in their current pristine

conditions. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, these efforts of conservation and sustainable management of our ocean and marine life is not only confined to my country. in 2010 leaders at the pacific islands forum unanimously adopted a framework for targeted actions needed for our region to safeguard the health of our oceans. as a region, we take our obligation as stewards of one of the greatest natural endowments in the world very seriously. our obligation to insure that the pacific ocean sustains life on this planet not only for now, but for the days to come. our continued commitment as a region will be reflected, is reflected in the theme of the upcoming pacific islands forum

meeting to be held in palau which is the ocean: our life, our future. following endorsement of the pacific ocean scape, other pacific island countries also declared designated marine-protected areas. the cook islands in 2012 declared 1.4 million square kilometers. my friend from palau, the president, do declared all of palau exclusive economic zone closed. other countries have done the same. and so this is the momentum that we want to carry on. within the pacific we have a number of arrangements in place to insure that we do the job that needs to be done. the pacific region, therefore, has some of the more stringent and most elaborate conservation

arrangements and missions more this including through the pacific islands forum, the forum fisheries agency, the pacific community, the south pacific regional environment program, the western and central pacific tuna fisheries commission, the u.s. multilateral treaty as well as a subregional coastal fisheries resource -- a subregional grouping of coastal fisheries resource owners under the -- [inaudible] narrow agreement. ladies and gentlemen, let me emphasize that conservation and sustainable management efforts at the national and regional levels will be futile if such efforts are not supported and complemented at the global level. global inaction to regulate and insure the levels of restriction for our ocean and planet to insure that they are sustainable will be, will ultimately result

in the loss of the entire ecosystem. declaring closed areas for marine-protected areas and conservation will have no meaning if the closure of these mpas cannot be enforced. the technology to insure effective management and protection of the oceans is not something new, but it has yet to be put into effective use. such technology will complement and enhance clap aretive -- collaborative agreements necessary to insure that our ocean covering some two-thirds of the earth's surface is effectively monitored and protected. ladies and gentlemen, we urge the global community, our development parties, our fishing water partners, private businesses, individuals and those who can and who share the vision to also make similar

sacrifices including making contributions to the supporting the marine-protected areas. it makes good financial sense to do so. our presence here today is part of the necessary steps towards joint global action, joint global commitment and joint global obligations to preserve and save our home, our one and only home. our presence here is an acknowledgment of our shared responsibility to insure the health of our ocean and our environment. let us not allow this momentum -- let us not slow this momentum. linking up at the summit with the upcoming small island developing states forum as well as the united nations secretary general's climate change summit later this year. the preservation of our oceans and inaction against climate change, our global obligations towards future survival and

security of our peoples. and i speak on behalf of my fellow -- [inaudible] in stressing that they should be given exclusive focus as we shape the post-2015 development goal. we are one global community, and we have a collective responsibility to insure that planet earth, our home, our children's home and their children's home continues to sustain life as we know it today. we can no longer afford to remain idle, to stand on the sidelines. let us pool our resources, our knowledge and our efforts to save this life source, this gift from mother nature. inaction is no longer an option. action is our obligation to our children and their children's children. ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by sharing with you our

traditional blessings -- [speaking in native tongue] meaning may health, peace and prosperity be upon us all. thank you. [applause] >> mr. president, secretary kerry, thank you very much for the inspirational remarks and for the amazing announcement that president tong has made. it shows very clearly the critical role our political leaders have in driving forward action to protect our ocean. i'm now delighted to invite to the stage three leading civil society voices on ocean conservation, philippe cousteau of earth echo international,

margaret leinen and enrique sala of national geographic. they will each present their thoughts on the theme "exploring, understanding and conserving our ocean." and while they take the stage, the images you will see around the room are from one of the best love known and most -- best known and most loved versions of science, thal vin submersible -- alvin submersible, which just turned 50 years old this year. [applause] ♪ in the year that i was born, lived a man who sailed to sea. ♪ and he told us of his life in the land of submarines. ♪ so we sailed on to the sun until we found a sea of green. ♪ and we live beneath the waves in our yellow submarine.

♪ we all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine. ♪ we all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine. ♪ and and our friends are all aboard, many more of them live next door. ♪ and the band begins to play -- ♪ we all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine. ♪ we all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine ♪ ♪

>> [inaudible] ♪ because we live a life -- every one of us has all we need. ♪ sky of blue and sea of green in our yellow submarine. ♪ we all live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine. ♪ we all live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine, yellow submarine. ♪ we all live in a yellow submarine ♪ [applause] >> it is now my pleasure to introduce philippe cousteau.

philippe is a leader in the environmental movement, an award-winning television host, producer and an author. he is also a successful social entrepreneur. in 2004 he founded earth echo international, an ngo aimed at equipping a new generation of youth to solve environmental challenges. in 2013 he founded voyessy group which brings together his effort to help corporations and ngos successfully implement their marketing and communications efforts. philippe has also taken his market-oriented approach to conservation to wall street where he partnered with adviser shares investments to launch the global echo exchange-traded fund on the new york stock exchange. philippe? the floor is yours. [applause] >> thank you, undersecretary novelli, and, of course, thank you to secretary kerry for working so hard to establish the

ocean as central to global affairs. now, i thought that this morning it would be appropriate to open our conversation about exploration with a little trip down memory lane. a reminder of just how recently learning began to explore and protect our ocean. so i brought here to share with you this morning a little clip, the first few minutes of the first episode of the undersea world of jacques cousteau from 1968. let's watch that. ♪ >> the calypso core and i will be affecting a series of voyages of exploration and discovery in all the seas of the world. we'll endeavor to save magnificent creatures threatened with extinction. we will study the behavior of all forms of life that thrive in the sea. we'll try to trace the history of the oceans in fossil rocks

dating back millions of years. ♪ ♪ >> from cages made of plexiglass, we will film life that is sometimes savage and always beautiful. ♪ ♪ >> we will explore the -- [inaudible] of the sea where sunken ships plunder in search of -- [inaudible] measure fresh than shib wrecks' cargo. ♪ ♪ >> each time we dive, each time we enter the sea, we learn something new. we have never been better

equipped to observe, to learn and to put our findings to scientific use. over the years our quest will lead us to confront the dangers and reveal the splendors of is the sea -- of the sea. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

[applause] >> 1968 wasn't that long ago, and i always think it's nice to look back and remember where things started to inspire us to go forward. but what many people don't realize is that this iconic television series was actually preceded by two decades of work. and, you know, when my grandfather started his journey exploring the ocean toes in the 1940s, it actually wasn't about conservation, it was just about exploration. and i remember, i remember growing up with stories from him about how it took years for my father, philippe sr., and my grandfather as they watched from the 1940s to the 1960s the rapid postwar industrialization take its toll on the health of the oceans and the shift that they evolved from pure

exploration to to conservation. my grandfather said for most of history man has had to fight nature to survive. in this century he is beginning to realize that in order to survive, he must recollect it. he must protect it. their personal journey from explorer to conservationist is the same journal think that each and every one of of us has taken this room, each in our own unique way, and a journey that has led us here. and it is our collective exploration which has led to a wealth of knowledge not only about the ocean, but about what humans are doing to it. from sustainable fisheries and marine debris to the impacts of carbon pollution, our understanding of the challenges facing the ocean may seem daunting, but the good news is -- in the words of my friend at ocean conservancy -- we can fix this. but doing so will require more than technological advances, new ways of doing business.

it'll require all of us to continue to elevate the ocean to its rightful place at the center of the global stage. as secretary kerry said earlier, the ocean is our planet. and so our job here is to help the world recognize the ocean is a fundamental solution to many of the greatest global challenges faced by humanity from climate change to food security to providing sustained economic growth and prosperity and peace for countless millions. every day i have the privilege of working with young people, two of whom are represented here this morning at earthecho international. i have the opportunity to film documentaries around the world on environmental issues, and i see a growing course of people -- chorus of people who are aware of the problems facing our and who are yearning for a reason to hope, to know that change is possible and that they can be a part of it. they're looking to you, to the world leaders, to the

scientists, to the explorers, to the dreamers to lead the way. .. thank you for starting us off with great inspiration. i am now delighted to introduce doctor margaret leaned in, the director of the scripps institution of oceanography. one of the worlds premier oceanographic research institute. she serves concurrently as vice

chancellor for marine science at university of california-san diego. she is one of the united states leaving ocean scientist. a research in the areas of ocean biogeochemistry anthill oceanography includes the study of ocean carbon cycling and the role of the ocean and climate. she is the president-elect of the geophysical union, the largest geoscience society in the world and has also served as the president of the oceanographic society. dr. leinen. [applause] >> thank you, undersecretary. and thank you, secretary, for bringing us all together today. when i first went to see understand the ocean came in cruz size bytes. we were dizzy collective precious samples. we ran transit. we brought the data back to the lab and worked on it there.

today, we understand the ocean through observation ingrate gulps, from satellites, more rings, drift king systems, and we're going to a lot of concern over the next two days about fisheries, and certification and ocean pollution. but the key to these and her understanding of the ocean starts with observation. and for that we have an incredible success story. i'd like to give you a couple of examples of both high-tech and low-tech observation, global scale and very intimate scales. and just contrast how far we have come, the lines that you see on these maps are the transit lines of major international experiments the world ocean circulation experiment that started in 1990, and wanted to get a snapshot of the physical ocean in as short a

time as possible. to fill out the work, took eight years, hundreds of cruises, tens of millions of dollars. in contrast, today, we often study the ocean with small drifting buoys like the argo floats you see here, deployed from ships, they sink into the ocean, go down to about 2000 meters, measure salinity, temperature, oxygen, depth and then we'll come back up to the surface and telling nader that dated back to us in our laboratories. -- telomere. these floats were developed by the academic community with funding from noaa, subsequent 30 nations have contributed floats to the -- dupont put the system. the map here shows the

population of those floats from 2000 tilt today. 3500 drifting buoys, 2000 meters of water. we now get more measurements from the argo system in one month than we did from that entire eight years of float day. and i then cuddle success storyn our ability to observe the ocean. and from this set of measurements we have been able to quantify the warming of the ocean and also show how it has been changing. corals are a different kind of story. we know that coral reefs, important nurseries for fisheries, important habitats, are under threat from acidification, from warming, from pollution, from disease and from physical disruption. des important habitats require a

more personal approach, a more intimate approach for observation. and yet, here's some of the most exciting things are coming from the commercial community. small, inexpensive cameras developed for the recreation community, the go pro cameras, are used now to put together all of those photos with computer, using computers to develop industries like this from a recent clout, to be able to go back to the lab and study in exquisite detail. now imagine being able to do that on a regular basis with scientist, with assistant scientist to be a look at this area as it changes with respect to different events. we have not gotten used to being able to look at the ocean from

satellite. this is see surface temperature data from 1996-1998, for which it was a major el niño in the pacific ocean followed by the cool face of el niño. 50 years ago we couldn't even dream of being able to study the ocean in this way. and yet, now we can look out -- at a phenomenon that covers the entire half of the globe come look at it in detail and understand how it evolves and what happens with it. on the screen you see a movie from an underwater microscope. the field of view is too and have millimeters. those are two corals, two different species that never occur next to each other and you are seeing why. the coral on the left has just

departed spirits digestive organ and is pouring caustic digestive enzymes all over the coral on the right. that's why they don't occur together. these remarkable technologies give us insight into things we could never outserve otherwise. new ways to observe the ocean. and, finally, even smaller scales, this is a bacterium. it's the most abundant organism in the ocean. and, therefore, probably the most abundant organism on earth. we didn't even know it existed in 2000. and we didn't find it in a trawl or even by looking at a drop of water through a microscope. we found it by its genetics footprint in a water sample. 50% of the cells in the surface tempered oceans are pelagic

bastard. they have an outside influence on the ocean because it's a very efficient recycler of organic carbon come one of the major themes, or one of the major components of the carbon cycle in the ocean. so from spatial scales of the globe to the intimate scale of the oceans, are a building to observe these key to our ability to understand and key to our ability to provide answers to the challenges we are going to hear over the next two days. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, dr. leinen, for showing us how cool science can be. i know privilege to introduce our final speaker, doctor enric sala, a national geographic explorer actively engaged in

exploration, research and communication to advance ocean conservation. he is currently leading the national geographic christine sees project, an explanation research and medium initiative with a goal of finding, surveying and helping protect the last wild places in the ocean. in the last five years, the partners have inspired leaders to protect -- protest over four 50,000 square kilometers of ocean in five countries. he was a 2008 young global leader at the world economic forum and he won the 2013 research award of the standard geographical society, as well as the 2013 lowell thomas award of the explores club. enric. [applause] >> thank you. your excellencies, mr. secretary, dear friends, i'm a ghost, thank you, secretary --

amigos -- for inviting me to give his keynote. i'm not speaking just for myself but all of those here and in the field who make ocean conservation their life purpose. for all of us have witnessed dramatic changes in the ocean during our lifetimes. in my case growing up on the coast of spain in the '70s and watching jacques cousteau's documentaries, i was saddened by the loss of a large and abandoned fish that he show does when he was filming in the '40s and 50s. and how many of you have a similar story of loss? how many of you have seen the ocean -- raise your hands. secretary kerry already reminded us what we have lost because of overfishing, pollution and the emerging threat of ocean warming and acidification. but today i want to show you

what we have found, what i've seen in places that are remote and have not been affected by human activities. like the southern lined islands. thank you, mr. president, for making a great -- [inaudible] ndu specific remote island. diving in these places is like going back in time to an ocean with crystal-clear water full of large predators and healthy corals. and these reefs, this particular reef that the secretary show does, is not only healthy but more resilient to the effects of global warming. so the question we need to ask ourselves is quite simple. how can we move ocean ecosystems closer to a state that is healthy and more resilient? the solutions are many because

so are the problems. we need to manage our fisheries better, cap greenhouse gas emissions and reduce pollution. these are clear and just in why we need to tackle them, it will take time to have an effect. but there are steps that we can take right now that will have immediate benefits. we can create as the secretary said more marine protected areas. in particular, marine research -- in the '90s i came back to the coast of spain, and i died in a marine research have been protected for a few years -- dived. i stood member the first dive at all the large fish that were absent from the ocean of my childhood were right there, like his big grouper. i met a friend of mine who became a fisherman and he told

me that he would soon be a fisherman. he could work for research. there were so many fish that they spill over, many of them spilled over and help to replenish the local fisheries around. and other people i knew develop thriving ecotourism businesses pretty hundreds of jobs and bringing 20 times more income than fishing to the local economy. i know that many of you, have similar stories, have experienced personally the benefit of marine research that are well managed. and think of the ocean. most of the ocean as bank accounts where everybody withdrawals but nobody makes a deposit. marine research our savings account with the principles set aside that produces interest that we can enjoy. and protecting these precious resources is not a tenable

problem after a. the sites is clear and so are the economic benefits. what we need now is political will. scientist can only do so much. conservation organizations can only do so much. and the public, most people don't know how to do, and when they find out they don't know what to do. so your leadership will literally make a world of a difference in working to create more marine research. you in this room and all around the world have the authority to make this happen. we know what the benefits are. because the more healthy and resilient the ocean will be, the more the ocean will continue to provide these goods and services that make that healthier and richer. thank you very much. [applause]

>> thank you so much to you, enric, margaret, philippe, for just getting us going with such fantastic presentations. we are a little bit behind schedule so we are going to take a break now, and if you can please be back here probably at 11:10 so that we can try to get back on schedule. and while you are breaking, i encourage you to check out the expositions -- so we will see bacyou back here at 11:10. thank you. >> secretary of state john kerry kicking things off the story of the state department's our ocean conference. in an interview with yahoo! news today, secretary kerry said u.s. of drone strikes may well be an option to help stop the

insurgents advances in iraq. secretary kerry also left open the path of military cooperation with iran as islamic sunni insurgents have overtaken a number of iraqi cities over the past weeks. on facebook we've been asking you to share your thoughts on what your message would be to congress on iraq. no american boots on the ground. we never had a legitimate reason to be there in the first place. and chemicals can evacuate the embassy now. did the americans out now. give them the air support. cannot risk american lives again like he did in the gaza. we would like to your thoughts and facebook.com/cspan. both gems of congress are in session this week at the senate returning today at two eastern. at 5:30 p.m. members will vote on three district court nominations, and later this week the senate was to work on bills to fund the federal government including the departments of transportation, commerce, housing, and agriculture. the house will be back tomorrow. members will work on a number of suspension bills and later this week the house is expected to take up the senate passed bill

dealing with vendors access to healthy. also leadership election will take place on thursday. as always watch the senate like on c-span2. live coverage of the house is on c-span. >> cable in the '90s, when a lot of the current rate of tort environment did have over 90% of the market. today the cable industry only has a little over 50%. the business has matured and i think you either have to do two things. at a lower costs, keep your margins good for you to find a new place for revenue. i think they're attacking both of those to focus on the revenue side. i think, one, looking for new ways to delight and hold consumers. you look at comcast and its investment in the excellent platform. if you can make video on demand more attractive, easy-to-use, the interface is more weblike and more delightful.

neville, don't lose what you have. i get to innovate to keep what you have. you also see them taking advantage of broadband. that is a blessed source of new business opportunity for our industry. it is growing much faster but is still has a huge market. it is good economics and it's a good business. >> the rapid change in telecommunication, technology advances and the future of the cable industry with national cable and telecommunications association president michael powell tonight at eight eastern on "the communicators" on c-span2. >> officials with the u.s. geological survey said his agency is in the process of developing an early warning earthquake system. his remarks came during a house subcommittee hearing examining recent advancements in new technologies for studying earthquakes. this is just over one hour.

the committee will come to order. the chairman notes the presence of a quorum which under committee rule three come is to inspect the subcommittee on energy and mineral resources is meeting today to hear testimony on an oversight hearing entitled advances and earthquake science, 50 anniversary of the great alaskan quake. under committee rule, opening statements are limited to the chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee. however it is the practice to allow either the ranking member of the full committee or the chairman of the full committee to make statements if there here at the subcommittee meeting. and i would ask unanimous consent to include any other members opening statement enduring record it's a bit to the clerk by close of business today. hearing no objection, so ordered. i also ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from alaska, mr. young, be allowed to participate in today's hearing if and when he's able to be here. hearing no objection, so

ordered. >> i now recognize myself for five minutes. today marks the 50th anniversary of the good friday great alaska earthquake. it was a massive 9.2 magnitude quake making it the second largest earthquake ever recorded with a modern seismic equipment, and the largest in the u.s. the earthquake occurred along a 580-mile stretch of the fault and the aleutian trench fault and lasted between four and five minutes. the earthquake cause of the grace of vertical uplift ever measured, almost 34 feet, and southern alaska moved more than 65 feet seaward. the earthquake also carved -- caused the largest tsunami to ever hit the west coast of the united states and canada. the largest wave, 222 feet high,

hit valdez. in all, the earthquakes and ensuing tsunami's cost 129 fatalities in alaska, oregon and california. many of the dead were a result of the tsunami and not the actual earthquake. the town of valdez was destroyed and 30 people lost their lives, many of them children that it come down to the docks to meet the freight shipped that was delivering the first fresh fruits and vegetables of the year. as tradition would have it, the crew would toss through to the children that it come to me issue. two crew members were filming the festivities when the earthquake hit, and they captured the tragic destruction on film. i would ask the film now to play by staff. ♪ been a. >> always a red letter day in the life of the town.

♪ >> for the men it means the first day of spring, working cargo in the hold and down on the dock. for the women it brings fresh fruit and vegetables the valdez, the first they've seen since winter set in. and for the kids it's always a little like christmas. they flocked down to the dock when the ship comes in with the deckhands will greet them with fruit and candy. it's almost too dark for good photography but aboard the ship to of the crewmen, fred and earnest, use their eight-millimeter movie camera strike a picture of a grinning youngsters and their dogs on the dock below. then at 5:36, a dozen miles deep under the mountains north of prince william sound, the earth shivers, begins to move.

suddenly, the whole harbor at valdez begins to empty, drains almost dry. a subterranean chasm opens directly alongside the ship, slowly the ship starts sinking down into. soon only its mast can be seen from the top. adopt splinters, goes down with it while crewmen tried frantically to reach the people on it. out in the gulf of alaska, the ocean bottom plunges, then he's up for a full 50 feet and a wave starts racing to shore. a toss of the ship i, smashes it

down with the it down with a docket been, then drives it in to the ground. fred holton on for dear life and keeps his camera running. no one on the dock of valdez will survive. the longshoreman, the kids, or their dogs. >> the great alaska earthquake is one of the most studied natural disasters. the federal response was significant not only in economic relief and reconstruction but also in research. geologist from the usc s. were some of the first geoscientists on such conducting fuel mapping, surveys and taking core samples. they are finds were published in a series of professional papers

and the national academy of sciences published a volume of scientific research. research on the quake made significant contributions to the emerging theory of plate tectonics. today, earth sciences recognize that the earthquake resulted from the convergence of the north american plate overriding the pacific plate where it is being subducted into the earth's mantle along the aleutian trench. according to the usgs, knowledge gained from the research conducted on the alaska quake has provided the geologic framework for assessing the earthquake and tsunami hazard at a convergent plate margins around the world. many other contributions to earthquake science and hazard reduction were also made that provided geoscientist with the tools they could use to identify other plate boundaries that have had major ruptures in the past, and are susceptible to future ruptures. such as the cascadia structure in the pacific northwest. hazards caused by movement on secondary fault structures, a better understand of

liquefaction, good understanding of earthquake hazards in general, and send him a hazards, assessments and warnings, these are all things we have learned more about since the great alaska earthquake. as was evident in the earthquake and others with experienced in 50 years since, death and destruction from the tsunamis can be greater and more widespread than the damage caused by the shaking. the tsunami can happen thousands of miles away from the epicenter of the earthquake. in recent years, massive earthquakes and tsunamis have wreaked devastation across indonesia, japan, chile, and haiti. but in each of these massive movements of the earth, there are lessons. earthquakes in haiti and chile of nearly the same magnitude have caused massive differences in death and damage to much of the differences are the direct result of efforts to established standards and medication of earthquake hazards.

in japan, the early warning system allowed the japanese transit system to shut down every train so not a single derailment occurred as a result of the quake. today we're here to remember those who have lost their lives in the great alaskan quake. we are to remind ourselves that we cannot be complacent in protecting against hazards, and remind ourselves of the advancement of science depends on our vigilance but i would like to figure witnesses for being here today. i would look for during their thoughts, and on what we know about advances in earthquake science over the last 50 years. i would now like to recommend the ranking member, mr. rush holt, a new jersey. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i'd like to thank our very distinguished panel for being here today on the 50th anniversary of the largest recorded earthquake in north america. it's sobering to think that when the earthquake happened we

weren't even somewhere enough with the theory of plate tectonics to understand what was going on. and that takes is really to the point for this hearing. we needed then and still need now significant research and scientific development in geological sciences and earthquake sciences. the past half-century seen some impressive advances, but there is quite a bit more to learn your i am a little surprised, thank you that you didn't originally invite the u.s. geological survey to testify at this hearing. and i thank you for allowing us to invite the usgs to be your. the usgs is one of the world's leading authorities on the topic. and in addition to the general knowledge of the usgs about earthquakes, i'm interested in more today about other aspects

of earthquake science. and in particular i'd like to hear more about reduced earthquakes and the connection between hydraulic fracturing, waste water injection and so forth, and earthquakes. so i understand fracking itself doesn't cause earthquakes, at least not large ones, but fracking creates a lot of waste water. there are now numerous examples of earthquakes that appear to have been induced by injection of this water, the wastewater, back into the ground. i understand the usgs recent reported that the injection of fracking, fracking related wastewater was the likely cause of the largest earthquake ever recorded in oklahoma, magnitude 5.7. and the cost of millions of dollars of property damage. the impacts of quakes induced by

fracking related wastewater aren't limited to oklahoma. there been quakes in ohio, arkansas, texas, kansas, colorado and elsewhere. and so this is certainly a concern for people who live in these areas who may be thought that fracking was just a mom and pop operation, like buildin dria water well, but it turns out to be a major industrial undertaking. in some cases i think establishing the link between wastewater injection and earthquakes to the untrained person might seem obvious. new injection wells, start up and all of a sudden an area might have, that there hadn't earthquake might have some of these shakes. and then the injection sauce and quakes stop. but i understand that it's not that simple. and so i would be interested to hear what we do know, what we have yet to learn in that area.

you know, it's a topic that we might devote an entire hearing to, ranking member defazio previously, along with then, well, with ranking member waxman of energy and commerce, requested just such a hearing on and just seismicity. so i am pleased to call for such a hearing. we can touch on the subject i believe in this hearing, and that might be helpful. i'm glad that dr. lee is here and able to answer questions about what the usgs has been doing on the subject of andy's seismicity. and i am sure there are other points that all the witnesses can make about what we have yet to learn, what research we have

yet to sponsor, what studies yet need to be done to understand earthquakes that continue to happen on usually unpredictable ways and with very important consequence. so thank you. >> all right. as i said earlier it be the full committee chairman for the ranking member are here they are invited to make a statement also. and i see we have the ranking member, peter defazio of oregon. you are now recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thanks for calling this important hearing. as the test would today points out, the impact of the good friday earthquake 50 years ago was not limited to alaska. though it was particularly devastating in alaska. the tsunami that was generated killed for oregonians in part because there is no and was no

early warning system to alert people that a tsunami was bearing down on the oregon coast. hastened on the early warning system 50 years ago could have saved the lives, and giving people some morning and even a few minutes, can save lives. we can build an earthquake, tsunami early warning system with the potential to save lives. oregon doesn't just face the a threat from tsunami is generated elsewhere. we have our own fault it turns out with some of the research that came subsequent to this quake. a rather big when it turns out, the same type that generated the great alaska quake. the 2011 japan earthquake in the indonesia earthquake, and according to geologic history we are about overdue for a major quake in the northwest. it has been quiet or fairly quiet for a few hundred years, but as i said it is being judged to be overdue. you know, someday it's going to

wake up and our coastal residents, not only oregon, washington, northern california and potential will be sending a wave north like the wave was sent south from alaska. and we need that early warning system finished and deployed in the ocean, and as needed on land. dr. vidale and the usgs are developing that system and we know we're not going to be able to protect a quake days in advance. but just those few minutes, you can stop the trains people come with evacuation plans in place anywhere else on the coast and warnings and were on the coast to drag -- to practice drills, have measured impacts and found safe haven. you know, we would benefit tremendously from just a little bit of a heads up if this is coming. dr. hall made an excellent point, and i won't belabor it

but i have asked for a hearing on induced seismicity, you know, this idea should have an individually or in of itself although ugly we will be able to touch on it a bit here today. it is relatively recent, you know, phenomena which is not yet well studied or well-known. there have been swarms of quakes in areas where they have not been before, and it's attributed to the we injection of waste, which includes lubricants, oil, and proprietary chemicals which we are not allowed to know about. this is already laid under the safe drinking water act because our initial thought was we just want to protect the water table. but it turns out there are other assets that need to be protected. if you have induced seismicity in an area that has dams, induced seismicity an area that has a nuclear plant, induced seismicity with other

aboveground development, bridges and other things that are potentially at risk, we need to know about that. we need to know a lot more about that to avoid these problems. so i'm going to ask the usgs a number of questions about this today, see whether the budget is adequate to research this and whether or not congress i believe should be paying direct attention to. i don't think the safe drinking water act is adequate. some agencies are a bit reluctant to get into this controversy. we're not talking about saying we'll bring a halt to all oil, gas and fracking in the u.s. but we've got to decide whether or not the rejection of the waste is wise in certain areas and whether alternatives should be developed to prevent these problems. so thank you following this hearing, and i appreciate the opportunity to hear from the witnesses. >> thank you. and i wouldn't like to ask unanimous consent that the judgment from alaska be allowed to also make an opening

statement. seeing no objections comes ordered. >> i think the chairman and i thank the members. i'm not on this committee of the want to thank you for holding this hearing. as one who lived -- lucas is a great earthquake of alaska i'm very interested in what's going to be testified to today. primarily the warning, tsunami warnings. because during the earthquake we lost 140 allies. none of them in the earthquake. it was all because of the tsunami. we had no warning system. that was one of the greatest things. i will tell you it was a 9.2 earthquake. i believe the largest one that's ever occurred in the united states, and being on the ground when that occurred was an awesome expense because the length of the quake, it wasn't a short show. i've been through 7.8 where it's just the jolt and it was done but this thing lasted 10 minutes. it was a puddling effect. that's why all the houses and

landslides, et cetera, that slipped into the ocean, but the biggest thing what intrigued me the most was not only this tsunami but in kodiak, that is a rock island and will tip upside down by the way but it was a rock i do and they very nearly tipped upside down but it dropped eight feet on the sought -- topside and raised eight feet on the north side and thus flooding houses and homes before the tsunami on the south side and then the north side, any dog are in place at boat landing was prohibited. it stayed that way. it was a massive quake. if we continue and i'm disappointed in the congress very frankly because we have lacked the money. would cut back on tsunami warnings. that's the biggest danger. i do believe we can identify when earthquakes -- earthquakes can occur. a festival day when an earthquake is going to happen about five seconds before it happens. you can understand what i'm saying.

they grow and that's the unique thing. that's before men got involved. but i want to thank you again, mr. chairman, probably fishing because living through it is an awesome experience of the power of a quake and what, how helpless mankind can be. there's nothing you can do. we can be warned ahead of time so we can avoid that's not me, i think saved a lot of lives so thank you, mr. chairman, and thanks to the members of the committee. >> and i thank the gentleman. i would like to introduce our for distinguished witnesses. dr. william leith, senior science advisor for earthquake and geologic hazards of the u.s. geological survey. dr. lee, president-elect of the psychological society of america and russia tractor of the program and public health at the university of california at irvine. dr. john vidale, direct of the pacific northwest seismic network and professor in the department of earth and science,

shshould earth and space scienc, university washing and doctor reginald desroches. like all of our witnesses, no rain testimony will appear in full in a record so i would ask that you keep your oral statements to five minutes. our microphones are not automatically need to press the button when you are ready to begin. i would also like to explain to our timing lights were. when you begin to do our part will start the timer and a green light will appear. at four minutes a yellow light will appear. and at the time you should start to conclude your statement. at five minutes the red light will come on and i would ask that you conclude at that time. dr. lee, thank you for being you and you may begin. >> mr. chairman, members of the subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to discuss the significant event in earthquakes on saturday made over the past 50 years. the usgs is proud to be a partner with our state university private sector and

other federal colleagues in ongoing research and monitoring that i need to strengthen the nation's resilience to earthquakes and related hazards. as you mentioned the magnitude 9.2 great alaska earthquake that struck southern alaska 50 years ago today, the largest earthquake in u.s. recorded history and the second largest ever recorded. it also may be relevant to understand that the earthquake shaking lasted for five minutes, about the length of time i will be speaking with you today. so consider that. anchorage sustained heavy damage is your tsunami is generated by the earthquake caused death and damage as far away as oregon and california as has been pointed out and the earthquake and subsequent tsunamis resulted in 129 fatalities. >> to ask you to speak a little closer into the microphone? thank you. >> certainly. a major leap in scientific understanding followed the 1960 for earthquake, including

breakthroughs in earth science research worldwide that continued over the past half century since. and 64 alaska earthquake provided compelling evidence for example, for the new theory of plate tectonics. it also had lasting effects on national earthquake safety policy. first, it showed how disrupted a major earthquake in the two modern society and its infrastructure. second, it showed the complexity of earthquake effects such as landslides and tsunami they need to be addressed in any national mitigation policy. third, through the iconic scenes of houses broken apart by a landslide in in the neighborhood in anchorage, the 64 disaster demonstrated the importance of considering earthquake hazards in urban planning and development. the usgs national seismic hazard program is the applied science component of the national

earthquake hazards reduction program. led by the national institute for science and technology, the other partners on the federal emergency management agency and the national science foundation. within this partnership, usgs provide scientific information and assessments necessary to reduce deaths and injuries, and economic losses from earthquakes and induced tsunamis, landslides and liquefaction the usgs is the only agency that routinely and continuously reports on current domestic and worldwide earthquake activity through our advanced national seismic system, the usgs and its university harder to monitor and report in all 50 taken his territories and around the globe. program has four components. monitoring and reporting of activities and information

processing characterizing earthquake hazards in conducting and supporting targeted research into earthquake causes and effects, and conveying earthquake safety information for lost production. all these components rely heavily on federal-state university and private sector partnerships. we are also looking into the future for opportunities to apply to reduce earthquake losses. for example, the next step in public safety, earthquake early warning is already under development by the usgs and our partners, and a test system a successor operating out in california. another important opportunity that we are pursuing is to incorporate into the anss the nsf funded earth scope portable seismometers that are now deployed across the eastern u.s. even though it's been two decades since a major earthquake disaster in the united states, the risks are still very real and the resilience of a nation will be tested when, not if, the

next earthquake disaster strikes. giant earthquakes like the ones that struck alaska 50 years ago, produce ground shaking along derision that can produce landslides and other grandfathers but these aren't predictable location. likewisebut likewise there is a-on the run up can estimate in advance. samad earthquake and tsunami planning scenarios get emergency responder and committee planners much-needed improved visions of what can be expected in a future disaster such centers are being played out today in the alaska shield disaster response exercise. but rapid earthquake loss assessments are still unacceptably uncertain because of spars seismic network coverage in many areas. anss is only one-third completed. also a limited inventory of the environment that is useful for damage modeling, and uncertain about how buildings and infrastructure respond to strong

extended strong ground shaking. that's the critical engineering part of nehrp. so now if you're keeping time, anchorage has just stopped shaking. so i will conclude by sync i appreciate the opportunity to discuss the vital earthquake marching and researched that the usgs at a partners are doing. these efforts over the past 50 years have made the nation and the world safer and more resilient to earthquake and i would be happy to take any questions you may have. >> thank you. dr. ludwig. >> chairman lamborn and ranking member holt and members of the subcommittee him thank you for inviting me to testify. i'm a professor at -- isn't not on? okay. as a professor at university of california-irvine, either the earthquake risk every day. today i'm speaking primarily of president-elect of the psychological society -- >> even a little closer if you could, please. >> the core purpose is to advance seismology and the understanding of earthquakes for

the benefit of society. my message today is threefold. first, you 50 years since the great alaskan earthquake there's been a scientific revolution in understanding earthquakes. second, federal investments in science has been directly responsible for these advances. and third, this investment has yielded valuable returns that are helping us become an earthquake resilient nation. i want to start with an account of the great alaska earthquake on good friday 19 '64. i've heard the stories of extended family many times. kind of grant was shopping in downtown anchorage when the earthquake struck. as the buildings collapsed in front of her and chasms open industry, she grabbed a parking meter and hung on for dear life. the shaking lasted nearly five minutes and ship time to think, it must be the beginning of world war iii and the end of the world as she knew. our experience is more because it illustrates the link between earthquake science and national security. when downtown anchorage was collapsing them neither donna grant or anyone else knew it was

caused by deduction of the pacific plate. at the time in 19 '64, seismographic networks mom bought a drink nuclear weapons testing in the cold war and also marching earthquakes. this data was critical to the discovery of plate tectonics. donna experienced the most powerful earthquake in u.s. history. the alaskan earthquake was so big that seismologist have to develop a new scale to measure it. the earthquake also cause a tsunami which affected the entire west coast and hawaii. the reason japanese tsunami provides a vivid example of the devastation that can follow such an earthquake. plate tectonics is now a powerful tool for identifying areas that are most susceptible to earthquakes. the greatest earthquake hazard occurs at the plate boundaries but these boundaries have been imaged by a seismologist and mapped by geologist.

in 2004 but this authorization expired in 2009 just months before the devastating haiti earthquake. as chairman lamborn said in his statement march 9, 2011, quote earthquakes can and to kill hundreds of thousands of people in the case of a become a magnitude seven earthquake killed over 230,000 people. the tragedy in haiti was surprising to many but not to seismologists who were for my with the fact that haiti is on a seismically active plate boundary but i'm here to tell you that the federal investment and earthquake science has given us the knowledge we need to

protect ourselves from the type of tragedy we saw in haiti. in science as in life you get what you pay for. it is in the best interest of the american people to invest in earthquake science and continue working toward becoming an earthquake resilient nation. thank you for inviting me to testify about this important and urgent problem. >> all right, thank you. dr. vidale? >> okay, is it is working? okay. good morning, chairman lamborn, ranking member holt, and members of the subcommittee. i appreciate the opportunity to speak to you this morning about a proposed path forward to fortify the west coast against earthquakes. i am john duncan professor of universe of washington and director of the pacific northwest seismic network. while many earthquakes are great in this is a tragic to the publicly those with magnitude bigger than eight receive the title great from the experts. the 19 '64 earthquake in alaska that we're discussing is one step larger magnitude nine with vastly wider reached and unimaginable power. these earthquakes are going to

place in u.s., alaska and the pacific northwest coast. only the pacific northwest is heavily populated and industrialized. puerto rico is prone to smaller but similar earthquakes, and hawaii and california gets anonymous on these great earthquakes. the magnitude nine coming to the pacific northwest might not, for a longtime court might come tomorrow. the cascadia fault is locked and loaded. when it comes to severely shaken region will extend from northern california up the coast of canada, putting the entire coastlines of oregon and washington. to prepare for this devastation i will highlight two opportunities, earthquake early warning and see for monitoring and discuss why the cascadia deduction so needs to be a special focus, and why the national earthquake hazard reduction program must be strengthened. one you advance in earthquake research is the development of earthquake early warning. these gps monitors to recognize

earthquake within seconds and broadcast a warning of shaking that's coming to vulnerable areas. earthquake early warning would provide key advances and mitigate earthquake risks, for life safety and early warning will forestall, train, car and airplane accident, allow bridges declared, shut down elevators, open critical doors and were schools and the population in general. in the private sector, companies can mitigate losses by batten down the hatches, protecting computer operations and critical lifelines. emergency responders can jumpstart emergency operations while mass communication still works and maps of predicted devastation can be more quickly and effectively disseminated. and early warning systems ideally suited for the impending magnitude nine on the pacific northwest coast, expect one to five or more minutes of warning time prior to the arrival of severe shaking and gain valuable

extra minutes and accuracy in tsunami warnings. many of the countries exposed to earthquakes of already built earthquake early warning systems including japan, china, taiwan, mexico, korea and romania. since 2011, magnitude nine earthquake in japan provided clear evidence of the strong benefits of our earthquake early warning. the usgs has made a detailed implementation plan for earthquake early warning for the entire west coast funny the 60 million a year would build and operate a system. in the meantime the regional networks run from caltech and uc berkeley and university of washington are experimenting with prototype early warning systems. in the pacific northwest the performance of the earthquake early warning system would be bolstered by adding seafloor seismic instrumentation directly atop the magnitude nine earthquake ground rupture. this information would increase the warning time and make warnings more accurate, the offshore instance would also watch our long-term signs of tectonic unrest and accelerate

scientific understanding of the risks. the universe of oregon, oregon state university and washington have the right scientists and technicians to move forward. the usgs should devote sufficient resources to identify and quantify earthquake risk in the pacific northwest, the average expected loss to earthquakes in the pacific northwest is a billion dollars a year. a large fraction of exposure for entire united states, the realization of this risk has, just the last 25 years, and much of the evidence is so hidden under miles of abortion or wiped clean by glaciers. our most frequent strong earthquakes such as in 2001 our tens of thousands of miles deep tied to no fault of the surface that can. our problem is not something an extension of the san andreas fault that needs more dedicated study within the region. reauthorization of a transit city to ensure continued efforts to characterize poorly understood risks -- nehrp.

cities have not been tested central to the mild 1994 north earthquake which only hit suburbs. the funding level should be high enough to accommodate new developments such as earthquake early warning and see for monitoring. in summary, the great alaska earthquake of 19 '64 is a forerunner of the venture great earthquake in the pacific northwest to prepare we should build an earthquake early warning system in place for monica maintained within the pacific northwest a vigorous earthquake science and engineering effort and all this requires a reauthorize drawing nehrp program. thank you for the opportunity to speak. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman and members of the subcommittee. the 50 years following the great alaska earthquake is launched a period of great progress. how to build to minimize the impact of earthquakes. as a result we are much more prepared, much safer and much more resilient to however much more can and should be done to

protect our infrastructure. let me highlight a few areas where we've made significant progress. building codes were woefully inadequate at the time of the 19 '64 alaska earthquake. holdings that were designed and built 50 years ago likely sustained damage to a moderate to large earthquake or call the building codes are updated some of the most significant changes have occurred after major earthquakes identified or emphasize structural deficiency. the 1971 earthquake and the 1994 earthquake were to such landmark events. in terms of building code. advances in structural dynamics by the late 1960s to structural and chairs to consider seismic forces but the movement of structure must undergo an earthquake. the ability that been would bend without breaking was recognized. studies and left us by researchers demonstrated detailing was critical and to provide sufficient ductility and concrete structures. a large percentage of the

structure was designed and constructed prior to the introduction of modern seismic zones which are introduced in early to late 1970s. these structures are highly probable to damage and destruction in earthquake or seismic retrofitting or rehabilitation strategies have been developed to reduce the ball in play that homes, buildings and other infrastructure exposed to earthquakes. significant efforts in the research committee have been focused on developing and testing effective retrofit approaches. ..

the structures that were built or defined in the strict experienced limited while those that have not been returned for city suffered greater damage. significant progress has been made in the area of public policy as it relates to earthquakes. policies regarding his faith regarding hospitals, city halls in schools didn't exist 50 years ago. the lack of safety in hospitals became a consideration following the 1971 earthquake. several hospitals including the veteranveterans administration l collapsed in the earthquake. 44 people died in the va hospital. as a result of the 1973 california state hospital safety act mandated new hospital structures have higher seismic safety standards. according to recent legislation, by 2030, all hospitals are to be

retrofitted to a level capable of providing services that continue to operation to the public after a major disaster. in the area of education and training in 1964, the only earthquake engineers were located in california, japan and mexico. now engineering is all over the country including schools and states that are not traditionally thought of as being in the seismic zone such as my institution and georgia tech. researchers are leading one of the largest studies ever conducted right into the middle of downtown atlanta to develop and validate the cost effective for a trophy for the reinforced concrete buildings. this project along with hundreds of others would not be possible without the support for the network engineering simulation program. the program has made a number of studies a reality. from large-scale testing at the california system to the testing of the pipelines.

the programs have provided the resource community with the opportunity to test the range of systems in a fashion that we can only dream of. finally i would be afraid we have a lot more work to do to prepare for the impact particularly large. however the american people are safer isafer in the cities are resilient socially and economically than we were 50 years ago. this is the result of the funded research, knowledge transfer and education outreach programs. thank you again. >> i want to thank all of the witnesses for your end lightening testimony. we appreciate you being here. we are going to start with questions now. i will recognize myself for the first five minutes into this is for any one of you. i find the comedy movement of a major fault there are many types of infrastructures across the

sun. cassandra is and others in the pacific northwest and alaska such as transmission lines, highways, pipelines and so on. what is the status to the truth of existing infrastructure and what are we doing to require enhanced protection from? on future projects? and i know you've touched on that but who could best summarized for me? >> a couple of you if that would be good. ischemic even >> that is a significant effort and i think i mentioned in one of the effort focused on not just buildings because they have been a focus for many years because the majority of the casualties there's been a major effort recently through the funded programs to look at what we call lifeline systems in the utility systems i think we made a significant amount of progress and more can be done in this

area. >> will we have the critical lifelines and we saw this week landslide so there's not really a single answer. we are trying to replace the bridge in downtown seattle so we have identified a lot of the problems that it's going t but e a long time to fix them if. >> one thing that's important to point out is that undermining all of these efforts to construct earthquake resistant structures is the scientific understanding. engineers have to design something so the more we know and understand scientifically, the more we can help the

engineers designed to be earthquake resilient and that was something i think that we saw in the 20011 japan earthquake that their buildings were very earthquake resistant but they didn't expect the size of the tsunami so underlining that is a scientific understanding. >> will two comments. first is that we just started a project cooperatively in the city of los angeles that is directly focused on identifying solutions to the problems of lifelines that includes the water system, the communication system, power system and more general problems with over constructions of the types doctor desroches mentioned. second, we operate a system that allows any user to quickly get

an assessment of potential damage at any site and we run that for all of the nuclear power plants in the united states and around the world. in california they run every bridge and overpass so there are ways of also very quickly using the data reported through the networks analyzed and processed within tens of minutes to get a damage estimate out in the lifeline facilities. >> doctor leith, while you are on here, what would you say about has been touched on three other witnesses in the early warning system how important would it be to have a policy to institute such a program? think we have had this as an objective since about 1999 when

we put together the plan for the seismic system and we've invested nearly $10 million so far in the research development and modernization of the network so they can provide early warnings. we have a test operating system that's working now in california for the robust resiliency and 24/seven operations needed in such a system that's testing oug out very well with further investment it could be made public in part of the statewide or west coast him and. >> you set a moment ago in order to prepare for and set standards for earthquakes, we need to understand the science and i

wanted to first get a sense of how good the science is. in 1964, geologists hav had spet the previous past century and 39 were ignoring that move and that there's a coalition. let me turn this into a budgetary question for. if they got additional money for fy 14 if you had more funding for any such thing, how would you use it and how mature is the science?

are there lots of pieces to clean out? doctor leith first because i did want to get to the point of the budget and what we might be doing in response to any inadequacies in the science. >> i would answer that i tend to -- my style is to focus on opportunities and what i see is a number of opportunities for advancement. as the science progresses and we learned new pieces about how the earth works in the generated there are opportunities to move that forward and also many gaps in the understanding that need to be addressed and in the

reporting som zone earthquakes t need to be addressed and all of those could be addressed by additional resources. an example is the one that you brought up where we have documented and published a very significant increase in the central part of the united states and we need to understand that better to map out the post by those earthquakes and to help inform their decisions. >> i meant my question to be a softball. let me turn to doctor ludwig and maybe the others will have comments in their brief time remaining. >> first-ever understanding is only as good as the data tier click problem is different than the other sciences because we can't take the earth and put it in a laboratory and run controlled experiments. every earthquake especially the

large ones are a socially and uncontrolled natural experiment and we have to kind of cheated and have the infrastructure for the physical infrastructure, the seismic network and the human resources committee scientists to collect the data. also we have to learn from what's happened in the past. i am a seismologist and a look at past earthquakes to see if it happened in the past it could happen again to kind of get an idea of what we could expect him to use that for forecasting. so you have to have a pretty robust infrastructure both physical and humane to be able to do this kind of science and make these sort of breakthroughs like the plate tectonics. it took a lot of tim time into a anand dataand then the alaska ee really helped. that was an opportunity. >> in less than a minute if any

of the other witnesses would like to take a crack at the maturity of the science. >> i have a couple of points. one, we don't understand's objections. they had a tremendous punch that we didn't ask it was bloated. we would benefit from knowing how the subjection. another is how are the basins exampled? la is over a big piece in the end oandthe results out of stand suggested there might be facto factors. we need to feed the engineers he notions so they can build the buildings to be strong enough so those areas need research. >> i would like to recognize the ranking member of the full committee mr. defazio. mr. defazio. >> first conductor -- professor

vidale i didn't understand the 1 billion figure that you used. >> it is an estimate from a few years ago 800 million for oregon and washington and annual losses and so i rounded up. >> i mean in the event of a 9.0 or greater it would exceed a billion dollars. >> i didn't give the member for 99. i gave a billion a year on the long-term average candidate for the magnitude nine the estimate is 50 to 100 billion. >> okay. so does anybody on the panel think the federal government given the potential for 50 to 100 billion-dollar calamity which could be partially mitigated we are investing enough money in either research or development and deployment of technology to provide early

warning, does anybody think that we are spending enough? okay. no one, good. i would be very surprised if you did. the issue seems to me we spent $10 million since 1999. we are looking at a 100 billion-dollar problem that spends 10 million. we talk about countries like i think you said romania, mexico, they have deployed early warning systems in the united states of america has sent. we have a prototype. we have to develop new technology come is their new technology today that would at least mitigate the loss of life in the northwest with the advent of the tsunami that we could deploy? that we might improve later? >> is that a question? >> it is a question to either of you. >> i think we should build early

warning system. the physics is a bit of a challenge and we make sure we don't get false alarms and have to adapt to the emergency broadcast system. >> but if romania can do it can to the united states of america? i guess we fallen so far we can't but this is crazy. >> in these other countries japan, mexico, turkey that have existing systems into developing systems, those decisions were all made after major earthquake disasters. for example the earthquake that hit japan in 1995, it was after that disaster that there was a national political will to have an early earthquake warning system and bring up the base of earthquake preparedness countrywide. that's paid off heavily in the

earthquake from 2011. the damage was horrendous but the earthquake related shaking damage is much les less and thas mentioned the system performed so there seems to me to be a national political will to make the investment. >> okay. i want to emphasize the magnitude of the investment it's a only in dollars for the monitoring system and it's probably another billion for the seafloor instrumentation and china is launched into a multimillion dollar seismic monitoring system and planning early warnings so it's quite sophisticated as well. >> the united states could afford as much as japan and that would be 2 billion towards 100 million thousands of lives potentially lost or saved. >> quickly onto another subject, we don't really seem to know a lot about it and again are you

getting the data that you need the resources to investigate? because this is another issue of potential invention went off to cause these problems in areas that could provide a tremendous risk near nuclear plants or other facilities. it's being put to good use and the administration requested in addition to the fiscal 15 budget. on the data we don't have all of the data that we need. in particular there is a shortcoming on the injection activities themselves. the wastewater disposal in the earthquakes they were not really i don't think considered when that was put together, and so most of the epa and the states don't require the kind of precise data that is necessary to both understand that as a

national problem or to do the kind o of hard and six that one would want to do to connect a damaging earthquake with a particular injection activities. >> my time is expired. >> i want to say to the ranking member i would like to work with him and finding additional money for these issues like major earthquake research or shift money from the lesser priority objectives to this. this is important and i agree with you on how important -- >> i appreciate that and i've spoken to the former chairman and on the way out and he was going to join me and work out something together. thank you mr. c-charlie and i wanted to be at this hearing and represent the earthquakes in army country and i think it's a

very important subject with some really helpful testimony so i want to also thank the witnesses for their contributions. mr. chairman and i also wanted to be here to thank you because as a member of congress this is the first hearing i have attended of any subcommittee and the natural resources committee that wasn't a loaded partisan title full of loaded partisan content. with a loaded partisan agenda. this is a really important subject where we can all be interested and engaged and we might get something done together that could help the country so we need more hearings like this and as much as anything, i wanted to be here to express that and thank you for it and yield the balance of my time to the ranking member. >> following on the line of our ranking member's comments, the mentality in washington is a

very pessimistic mentality. mr. defazio points out one aspect of that. if you are the richest country in the world by far it doesn't act as if we have a future. if one invests the infrastructure and sponsors research and instead we talk about cutting. ththe chairman and says let's lk for some money and i will show him plenty we could invest in infrastructure and we should because we have a future. the other general comment has to do with the field of geology and seismicity and earthquakes.

humans believe that we experienced the happenings on earth and probably the most development is the understanding that humans have the ability to actually change the earth, to poison oceans and change the climate of the globe and in fact to induce earthquakes. most of us would have thought that the energy involved an object in water is miniscule compared to the energy that is released in the quake that couldn't possibly happen, but it does. am i right have there been significant earthquakes tied to human activities such as wastewater injection? >> absolutely it's been known for decades that other foods can induce earthquakes and there are many well-documented examples of this phenomenon.

they conducted an experiment in colorado and found that they could be turned on and turned off by inspecting or not. >> what are the problems with collecting injection data, what do we need for example that the drilling companies are not reporting? the record keeping for the legal and gas industry by record keeping is minimal and it requires the operator to report the total volume injected in a monthly average pressure and report that at the end of the year with a grace period so i mentioned for in -- forensics. it's not specific enough when

asked to tie in earthquake or series of earthquakes. it's the only regulation that requires reporting. >> mostly epa delegated to the states and they may or may not add additional requirements. >> so we probably need more federal requirements about specific data in order to address the answer -- to make progress on the research either the federal government or the states need to consider that a priority to collect more precise data on the activities and to make them available in a more timely manner. >> i think the chairman observes

that my time is up. >> as we stated earlier, the full committee chair man is here, the representative of washington will hear his statement and then we will conclude at the time. representative hastings? >> thank you for holding this hearing. i apologize for coming in here at the last minute. that happens from time to time with our schedules. mr. .. and then i have a statet and hopefully we can get a -- be helpful but as you know, that landslide in the state of washington is i think all of america is listening to the news every day about what is circumstances of that. will there be a time in the future, will there be a time we will be able to examine the circumstances but right now the

focus should be on the rescue efforts and the cleanup and we are all well aware of that. my question is where can people look to find more information about the hazard? is that something that we could be working on? >> yesterdayes they have a lande hazard program and we both operate we have for the public a website which identifies the areas in the country and presentpresentinformation on rew the public should deal with questions of the landslides. the responsible for the land use decisions reside within the state county and local decision-makers and our job is to provide scientific information that supports smart

decisions about land use planning. we also map out the location of the landslides and that includes the landslide that in kurt last week. >> i know that there is obviously going to be more awareness of that and my colleagues have asked in my district. but the underlining question is boy, that is a pretty massive landslide. and people are going to be interested in that and that is simply my question is to see is to help facilitate that in the future and i see if that is the case is a very positive development so i just want to ask a question to get it out there if you would.

>> i know in my state we've taken a step further and have them mapped much more exactly where we see the risk and haza hazard. within about an hour we've been looking at the seismic signals and the chronology. but as bill said, the state in the department of natural resources and they do have maps of landslides and they are on the scene managing with the division and a supervising and i know that those who data comes out with a lot that has taken what they can do to understand the situation as well. so, right now there's a pretty coordinated effort going on to understand the landslide to try to figure out how it happened and how we got to this point. >> i'm wondering if it was predicted where he risks.

that's part of what he's getting at. >> it is a state responsibility, and i frankly couldn't tell you exactly what they have and what they mean. what is done in the geological survey federally and in a state. a tragedy like this is going to raise the awareness. it would be very helpful for the public to understand better as best they can.

if there is no further business without objection the committee is adjourned