RAPID Facility Slated to Support Deployments in September 2018
Published on February 9, 2017
Rob Kayen, research engineer with the United States Geological Survey (USGS), was one of the participants at the recent RAPID Facility Community Workshop held at the University of Washington.
Since the NHERI RAPID facility award was announced in September 2016, several major wind and seismic events have occurred, including Hurricane Matthew in October, which struck Haiti and the U.S., and the magnitude 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake in November, which hit New Zealands South Island.
RAPID facility director Joe Wartman says research reconnaissance teams investigating these events inquired about deploying RAPID field equipment to the affected regions. To such inquiries, he says, We have to tell them the answer is not yet, but soon.
Although the center has commenced operations, faculty and staff are still in the planning- and equipment-commissioning phase. The center is slated to begin supporting field deployments in September 2018.
The RAPID facility, headquartered at the University of Washington, is a collaboration between UW, Oregon State University, Virginia Tech and the University of Florida.
In January, the center convened a two-day community workshop to solicit feedback from stakeholders to develop a science plan and establish deployment protocols. During the following year (2017-2018), the facility will acquire and commission major instrumentation to support post-disaster investigations.
Find details about the RAPID facilitys future capabilities on the RAPID DesignSafe site.