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​RESEARCH

Laurie Johnson Consulting | Research maintains an active research agenda that complements and advances its consulting practice. Dr. Johnson has conducted post-disaster reconnaissance and long-term rebuilding studies of many of the world’s major urban disasters, most recently the 2011 Tohoku Japan, 2010 and 2011 Christchurch New Zealand, 2010 Maule Chile, and 2008 Sichuan China earthquakes, and 2005 Hurricane Katrina. She has also been involved in several disaster scenario studies, including potential major earthquakes in northern and southern California, a tsunami striking the California coast, and a major winterstorm series impacting all of California. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, conference papers, and reports documenting the work.
Current Research Projects

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  • ​​Forecasting the potential large-population displacement and long-term community recovery challenges in the San Francisco Bay Area following a M7 Hayward Fault earthquake for the HayWired Scenario study for the U.S. Geological Survey

  • Assessing current methodologies, standards, and experience across the U.S. and internationally for the development of a framework for the design of infrastructure systems for post-earthquake functional recovery for the National Institute of Standards and Technology

  • Researching recovery planning and management following the M 9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011. Member of the Learning from Earthquakes societal dimensions research team, sponsored by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) in June 2011 and member of Geotechnical Extreme Event Reconnaissance organization (GEER) team, conducting field work in September 2011. Subsequent field study trips were conducted in March and December 2013

  • Researching recovery planning and management following the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, and 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes in New Zealand. Field work conducted in November 2011, May 2012, August 2012, November 2013, March 2015, September 2015, March 2016, September 2016, November 2016, February 2017, July 2017, August 2018, November 2018, and May 2019. Member of Geotechnical Extreme Event Reconnaissance organization (GEER) teams for both the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake and 2014 Christchurch floods

  • Conducting peer reviews of natural hazard management programs, disaster resilience research and funding applications and recommending strategies and opportunities for leveraging and advancing disaster resilience thinking and applications within community capacity building and sustainability efforts

Notable Past Research

 

  • ​Disaster recovery advisor on a study of communities pre-disaster planning for long-term recovery led by the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health

  • Researching the recovery management and planning in Sichuan China following the 2008 M7.8 Wenchuan earthquake with the aim of developing an intergovernmental management framework for sustainable recovery following catastrophic disasters. Co-Principal investigator on National Science Foundation Award #CMMI-1030332

  • Evaluating the post-disaster planning process in rebuilding New Orleans and Louisiana following the 2005 hurricanes. Consultant to National Science Foundation Award #CMMI-0758310, Rebuilding New Orleans

  • Policy advisor to the U.S. Geological Survey’s SAFRR Tsunami scenario for a major Aleutian Islands tsunami impacting California

  • Policy advisor to the U.S. Geological Survey's ARkStorm scenario for a hypothetical set of severe winter storms striking both southern and northern California

  • Disaster recovery advisor to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Shakeout scenario for a hypothetical M7.9 earthquake striking southern California. Work included designing and facilitating a recovery scenario exercise with public agencies in the epicentral region

  • “Developing a Management Framework for Local Disaster Recovery, A Study of the U.S. Disaster Recovery Management System and the Management Processes and Outcomes of Disaster Recovery in 3 U.S. Cities,” prepared in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Informatics degree, March 2009, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan​

  • Co-principal investigator on a decade-long comparative study funded by the National Science Foundation of the reconstruction planning, financing, and outcomes following the 1994 Northridge CA and 1995 Kobe Japan earthquakes

  • Participation in National Science Foundation-funded research following the 1994 Northridge earthquake on the implementation of the City of Los Angeles’ Recovery and Reconstruction Plan, as well as the decisions of the cities of Santa Monica and Fillmore to demolish hazardous buildings

© Laurie Johnson Consulting | Research 2024

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