Current Activities
2011 Missouri Tornado (May 22, 2011)
The NIST has released a progress report on its technical investigation of the May 22, 2011, tornado that struck Joplin, Mo. The report summarizes the status of data collected and the progress made toward meeting the key objectives of the study. When work is completed next year, a draft report will be issued for public comment. Highlights of the progress report include a timeline of weather conditions and emergency communications preceding and during the tornado; information about first-person data collection efforts targeting human behavior, situational awareness, and emergency communications before and during the tornado; and an analysis of information relevant to the design, construction and performance of buildings during the tornado. >> More
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Investigation Progress Report (PDF, November 2012)
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Joplin Tornado Final Study Plan (PDF, May 2012)
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Presentation - NIST Preliminary Reconnaissance, Building Performance and Emergency Communications, Joplin, Missouri Tornado, May 22, 2011 (PDF, June 2011)
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News item - NIST researchers collected data following Joplin, Missouri, tornado (June 2011)
2011 Texas Wildland Fires (February 2011)
Collaborative Effort, NIST and the Texas Fire Service (TFS) Recent wildland fires outside of Amarillo, Texas that destroyed 70 homes, burned more than 25,000 acres of land, and caused nearly $6 million in property damage, will soon be the most thoroughly investigated and scientifically evaluated events of their kind, thanks to a collaborative effort between NIST and the Texas Forest Service (TFS). During a three-week reconnaissance, a NIST-developed data collection methodology was used to acquire approximately 163 gigabytes of data and more than 11,000 photographs to document two of the blazes, now known as the Willow Creek and Tanglewood Complex fires. This massive amount of accumulated information will now become the foundation for a NIST-TFS study assessing the impact of the two wildfires on structures in the region. >>More
- NIST and Forest Service Create World's First Hazard Scale for Wildland Fires (December 2012)
- NIST Report on Texas Fire Urges Firefighters to Consider Wind Effects (February 2012)
2011 New Zealand Earthquake (February 2011)
NIST Researcher Joins ACSE Reconnaissance Team A NIST researcher joined the initial reconnaissance team from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) that went to Christchurch, New Zealand in April of 2011, to explore the causes of damage to infrastructure as a result of the magnitude 6.3 earthquake on February 22.
2010 Chile Earthquake (February 2010)
NIST Engineer Serving on Chilean Quake Research Team In March of 2010, a NIST research structural engineer was deployed to Chile as a member of a large multidisciplinary team of experts documenting the effects of the Feb. 27, 2010, earthquake in that country. The Chilean quake measured 8.8 on the Richter scale, equivalent to a force of 16 million kilotons of TNT, making it one of the most powerful earthquakes of the last 100 years.