Omnibus Earthquake Resource Site Now Online

Chairperson Jill Andrews announced that the Earthquake Informa-tion Providers (EqIP) group has finished a full revision of the group's Web-based catalog of earthquake-related resources. In addition, the group is submitting a proposal to NSF to continue the development of the site. EQNet (www.eqnet.org), a project originally launched by EqIP in 1996 is intended to be a "one-stop" source for locating Internet sites related to earthquake hazards. Part of its purpose was to consolidate access to those resources, and part of it was to elimi-nate duplication among earthquake information providers supported by NSF. All EqIP members have Web sites and links pages, all of which require maintenance. EQNet allows them to reduce the amount of maintenance on their own link pages by centralizing a resource they can all link to. Such a shift allows individual sites to focus on their areas of expertise. Ultimately, EQNet may not only be a reference tool for EqIP mem-bers (and others), but also a means of promoting and attracting more visitors to all EqIP members' Web sites. EQNet's webmaster, Ed Hensley, dismantled the original static pages, redesigned the structure of the site, and remounted it as an online database. At the same time, he simplified the interface, making access to the information in the database easier. Following EqIP's approval of the revised structure, the process of refining the site began, under the auspices of the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering in Buffalo: Refining and filling in the contents of the database Developing the Web interface to retain simplicity but add more capability Maintaining the site Coordinating the participation in and use of the site by EqIP members Marketing the site-getting it better known and more widely used A new proposal submitted to NSF will ask for support for these continuing efforts at least through the year 2000.