584 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTE1 ON S< IEN( E AND TECHNOLOGY 



'The Materials Policy, Research, and Development Act of 1979" 

 passed the House on December 4, 1979 by 398-8. 



EARTHQUAKE RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING 



In 1971, the earthquake in San Fernando, Calif., killed 65 people. 

 The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and hre resulted in the loss of 700 

 lives, and estimates indicate a repeat of that disaster would mean 

 10,000 people might die. California Congressmen on the committee 

 have taken the lead in earthquake legislation. On March 29, 1972, 

 Chairman Miller introduced a bill authored by Senator Alan Cranston 

 (Democrat of California) to authorize a modest $10 million to build up 

 the National Science Foundation program in earthquake research, 

 prediction, and land use priorities to reduce hazards. 



During the 1970's, the committee supported and encouraged an 

 expansion of the NSF program. In the NSF, basic research on earth- 

 quakes was handled out of the Earth Sciences Division (to push for- 

 ward the frontiers of understanding of earthquakes) and the applied 

 research was conducted under the research applied to national needs 

 (RANN) program. Starting with an expenditure of $2 million at the 

 beginning of the decade, the RANN program on earthquakes had ex- 

 panded tenfold by 1977. Symington, Mosher, Goldwater, Bell, and 

 Brown were chief pushers of earthquake legislation on the committee. 



On June 22, 1976, Chairman Symington opened a 3-day series of 

 hearings designed to move forward legislation to coordinate Federal 

 efforts in earthquake hazards reduction. Symington sketched in the 

 history of earthquake research and prediction. He noted that in the 

 Palmdale area north of Los Angeles, geologists had discovered an 

 "uplift" of 25 centimeters above the normal elevation "which many 

 believe to be the precursor of a severe earthquake." He then added: 



Speaking of uplift in California, I always thought that referred to the work done 

 by my colleague, George Brown 



Since Chairman Symington was out on the campaign trail, Brown 

 presided over the subcommittee markup session on July 29, 1976, to 

 consider the Brown-Mosher bill to establish a new Office of Earth- 

 quake Hazards Reduction. The bill acknowledged that both the Na- 

 tional Science Foundation and the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as 

 several other Federal agencies, had responsibilities in the earthquake 

 area. Most of the discussion in the markup meeting involved juris- 

 dictional problems, and it was eventually decided to give the President 

 the authority to designate which agency he wanted to be the lead 

 agency. Goldwater wanted to be more specific: 



I have a feeling that we're kind of legislating here in the dark. It disturbs me 

 that we are going to leave this up to the President to decide where this Offi< e is going 



