The National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council (NEPEC) provides advice and recommendations to the director of the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

on earthquake predictions and related scientific research. It was created in 1980 by authority of the

Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 is a statute formulating a national policy to diminish the perils of earthquakes in the United States. The Act of Congress is a declaration for an earthquake prediction system, national earthquake hazards r ...

. The Council consists of eight to twelve members, appointed by the Director of the USGS; all "shall be experts in the scientific disciplines that bear on earthquake prediction or other relevant disciplines..."U.S. Geological Survey Charter: National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council
Up to half of the members may be Federal employees; the Chair (appointed by the Director) shall not be a USGS employee. (Current membership is listed at th
National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council web page
) The NEPEC is effectively the pre-assigned panel of experts that can be quickly summoned to evaluate claims of imminent geologic disaster and advise the responsible public authority; it avoids the scenario of a lone and previously unknown scientist trying to figure out on his own what to do to prevent a disaster.

References

{{reflist Earthquakes in the United States