Such questions and related issues will be the focus of a conference to be held in New York City Sept. 12 and 13 by the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (NCEER), headquartered at UB.

"Economic Consequences of Earthquakes: Preparing for the Unexpected," will focus on socioeconomic impacts of a major eastern U.S. quake, which experts, including NCEER's deputy director Ian Buckle, have said is long overdue.

Buckle sees a significant parallel between the kinds of damage sustained in Kobe and the kind that could be sustained in the eastern U.S., if the long-expected eastern temblor should occur. This parallel will also be discussed at the conference, as will insights from the 1994 Northridge quake.

Leaders in the fields of economics, insurance, seismology, engineering and earthquake-hazards mitigation will examine how earthquakes affect business, commerce, industry, insurance and the financial markets.

Titles of sessions include: "What happened in Kobe and What If It Happened Here?"; "Scenario Earthquakes for Urban Areas Along the Atlantic Seaboard of the U.S.;" "Prioritizing New York City Bridges According to Earthquake Hazard Criteria," and "Impacts of Recent U.S. Disasters on Businesses: The 1993 Midwest Floods and the 1994 Northridge Earthquake."