Hazard maps will be greatly improved with the assimilation of space geodetic data into GEM even before earthquakes occur in the region. Retrofit priorities can be established mitigating future damage and loss of life. Beginning toward the end of this period a series of workshops and classes will begin to educate the broader community on the value and utility of the tools. Insurance companies will be able to establish sound rate structures given better hazard maps and information. Utilities will be more efficient handling the aftermath of earthquakes knowing where major damage has occurred and where aftershocks are likely to occur.
Businesses can mitigate potential damage by determining the risk they face.
Lives will be saved through properly constructed buildings and highways. None of this can be accomplished without the computational infrastructure to mine, assimilate, and analyze the great wealth of data that is rapidly accumulating. We propose that NASA take the lead on improving solid earth computational models by establishing the infrastructure to mine the volumes of space geodetic data being collected and integrate the computer codes to produce self-consistent models on many scales. The data provide the constraints needed to construct physically realistic models of earthquake, volcanic, erosional, and plate tectonic processes, and the computational methods and environment provide the means for cross-validation of the models.