{"665836":{"#nid":"665836","#data":{"type":"news","title":"In Puerto Rico, Georgia Tech Researchers Team Up to Build \u2018Landslide-Ready\u2019 Communities","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor three Georgia Tech researchers, a trip last fall to Puerto Rico to study how Hurricane Fiona changed the island was also personal.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn October 2022, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/rivera-hernandez-dr-frances\u0022\u003EFrances Rivera-Hern\u00e1ndez\u003C\/a\u003E headed to the island. On this trip, she was joined by research partners, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/lang-dr-karl\u0022\u003EKarl Lang\u003C\/a\u003E, a fellow assistant professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/bras-dr-rafael-0\u0022\u003ERafael Bras\u003C\/a\u003E, also of Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBras is the K. Harrison Brown Family Chair and a professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ce.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Civil and Environmental Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E (CEE) with a joint appointment in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences \u2014 and, like Rivera-Hern\u00e1ndez, a native of Puerto Rico. For a decade, he served as provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs at Georgia Tech, and today he continues to research ways to protect communities from disasters.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn October, the research team\u2019s mission was to learn more about how Hurricane Fiona, which hit in September 2022, had devastated the island\u2019s landscape \u2014\u0026nbsp;and how it had potentially created other long-term geohazards like unstable hill slopes, debris and rock falls, and landslides.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESupported by \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/\u0022\u003ENational Science Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E (NSF) funding, the researchers\u2019 ultimate goal is to one day create a national center for the study of geohazards, \u201cwith Georgia Tech as the lead institution,\u201d Bras said. \u201cWe surmise there will be several \u2018hubs\u2019, one of which would be Puerto Rico.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile it was still a major, deadly storm, Fiona turned out to be less damaging than Hurricane Maria, the 2017 storm that was one of the worst to strike Puerto Rico. After Maria, both Rivera-Hern\u00e0ndez and Bras had to deal with long-term power outages affecting cell phones before they could check in on loved ones.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFiona did give the researchers a chance to gather more data on surface hazards in the wake of a natural disaster. \u201cWe can use that information to better prepare communities,\u201d Rivera-Hern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cThat\u0027s another thing that we\u0027re working on with the geohazards, developing something called \u2018Landslide Ready,\u2019 which would be able to educate the public on if a landslide does happen, you know what you should do. But before that, we need to know. Where are they more frequently occurring? What\u0027s the cause? How much rain is needed to induce a landslide? We need science so we can better educate communities.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u2018Anything that has to do with Puerto Rico is personal\u2019\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBoth Rivera-Hern\u00e1ndez and Bras lived through hurricanes as they were growing up on the island, and both have seen the wide-reaching impact of major storms\u2019 wind gusts, flooding, and landslides on friends and families.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen Maria hit the island, Bras\u2019 niece, who runs a farm growing culinary mushrooms, had to deal with a months-long power outage that affected refrigeration and distribution.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMaria was so catastrophic. I cannot begin to describe how catastrophic it was. It was equal opportunity that way.\u201d Bras also had a friend on the island who worked as an executive for a major business in Puerto Rico. \u201cAnd for a month, he didn\u0027t do anything but get up in the morning and drive around looking for water and food. At least he still had some money here, and he still had a car. He still could get gas for it, but he had to wait in lines for half a day to get gas. Everybody had to do it.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBasic communications are always a problem during hurricanes, especially Maria, Rivera-Hern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cFiona wasn\u0027t as bad. Hurricane Maria was really, really bad. People didn\u0027t have power for six months to a year. The magnitude and how many people it impacted was greater, compared to Fiona.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ENo power means no cellphones, no gas for cars, and no way to use credit cards, an aftereffect of major hurricanes that has left its impact on island residents. \u201cYes, have a stash of cash,\u201d said Rivera-Hern\u00e0ndez. \u201cI think Puerto Ricans are generally using more cash than on the mainland. That\u2019s another example of something that was big at the time.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI think it took like a week or two just to communicate to people and Puerto Rico because the whole power system was out, which means the cell networks are completely out \u2014 it took a long time for people outside of Puerto Rico to even learn what\u2019s going on because nothing was getting out.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs a planetary geologist, Rivera-Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s primary research interests are astrobiology and planetary science \u2014 think Mars rovers and ancient lake beds in Antarctica. Before this effort with Bras and Lang, she had never studied landslides before the two hurricanes hit the island. \u201cMost of my work is focused on trying to better understand other planetary bodies. But when Rafael and I started talking about this, we decided this is something that\u0027s really important to us. It was a no-brainer.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd as Rivera-Hern\u00e1ndez, Bras, and Lang work together with students and a network of researchers to unlock remaining mysteries of landslides, the people their research could help the most in Puerto Rico are those living in the island\u2019s interior, with its steep hillsides.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI think that\u0027s an important point to make because those are often parts of the community that are very easily isolated,\u201d Lang said, \u201cand it\u0027s often the isolation that is deadly \u2014 for example, when power isn\u0027t restored to a hospital that\u0027s remote.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERural and remote risks\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe effort to study Hurricane Maria\u2019s geohazards has already earned the wider team \u2014 which includes researchers from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayag\u00fcez (UPRM) and the University of Colorado, Boulder \u2014 a National Science Foundation Track One Center Catalyst grant for their proposal: \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/awardsearch\/showAward?AWD_ID=2224973\u0026amp;HistoricalAwards=false\u0022\u003E\u201cCollaborative Center for Landslides and Ground Failure Geohazards.\u201d\u003C\/a\u003E \u201cUPRM is instrumental in this effort,\u201d Lang said. \u201cThe work would not be possible without them.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMore recently, a \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/geerassociation.org\/\u0022\u003EGEER (Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance)\u003C\/a\u003E expedition associated with Hurricane Fiona has helped Bras, Lang, and two CEE students, Paola Vargas Vargas and Jorge Lozano Ramirez, remain on the island to continue their research and study evidence left by the storms. Sponsored by the NSF, GEER is an initiative developed by geotechnical earthquake engineering community members to study infrastructure damage from natural disasters, and it can be rapidly awarded after those disasters strike.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter Fiona, the trio of researchers were able to quickly apply for two more grants, one from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.hsfoundation.org\/\u0022\u003EHeising-Simons Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E and an \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/pubs\/2020\/nsf20052\/nsf20052.jsp\u0022\u003ENSF Rapid Response Research (RAPID) Award\u003C\/a\u003E. That allowed them to revisit the island in November 2022 to gather more data. \u201cThey (NSF) try to be quick in responding to situations that were not foreseen,\u201d Lang said. \u201cWe got the RAPID funded because landslides, as they happen, are being removed by people on the ground who need to clear the road. The RAPID supports us to collect information before it is lost.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe sources of funding target various needs for the team. \u201cWhat we\u0027ve been doing is cobbling together different sources of money to be able to do both the scientific side, and then also setting up this broader community geohazards center.\u201d Bras is currently working on an NSF Track II funding grant that would help establish that center.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe NSF Track I geohazard proposal and the RAPID Award \u201chave clear societal relevance,\u201d Lang added. \u201cBy mapping the location, volume and mechanism of landslide failure after a storm event we can better predict where and how landslides may occur after future storm events. Similarly, by recording how floods transport landslide-derived sediment, we can predict the area and volume of flood inundation.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Frances Rivera-Hern\u00e1ndez, Karl Lang, and Rafael Bras are leading an effort to gather data about landslides caused by hurricanes hitting the island. Joined by students, the researchers share an ultimate goal of creating a national geohazards center."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFrances Rivera-Hern\u00e1ndez, Karl Lang, and Rafael Bras are leading an effort to gather data about landslides caused by hurricanes hitting the island. Joined by students, the researchers share an ultimate goal of creating a national geohazards center.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Frances Rivera-Hern\u00e1ndez, Karl Lang, and Rafael Bras are leading an effort to gather data about landslides caused by hurricanes hitting the island. Joined by students, the researchers share an ultimate goal of creating a national geohazards center."}],"uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2023-02-15 16:40:33","changed_gmt":"2023-03-31 20:32:20","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-02-15T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2023-02-15T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"665829":{"id":"665829","type":"image","title":"From October \u002722 Puerto Rico trip: CEE grad student Paola Vargas-Vargas (left) and Stephen Hughes of the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez calibrate an instrument in front of a landslide. 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Smith\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCommunications Officer II\/Science Writer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404-894-5209\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["renay.san@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}