On the other hand, some elements of tension are always healthy for a dynamic intellectual environment. But there are never enough funds to carry all programs along at the speed every advocate hopes for. We have seen major disciplines contending for influence in the earthquake program, including earth sciences, engineering, emergency response planners, social sciences, and public administration. Also there are analogous contests among subdisciplines within the major disciplines. Similarly, various agencies and organizations have been fighting for roles and funds.
National agendas have to be hammered out over time with a lot of effort.
They are created by dedicated people who must expend enormous amounts of energy. While such agendas are not necessarily long-lived, they do seem to thrive if the principal individuals continue to be personally dedicated and energetic. On the other hand, competing national priorities can overwhelm smaller efforts such as the earthquake program. Also, priorities are transformed in wartime, and in peacetime they shift as economic factors wax and wane. It is a truism in the earthquake field that each disastrous earthquake creates a temporary unity of purpose and a renewed determination throughout the community of specialists to seek better means of disaster reduction.