Proclamation 5947—National Earthquake Awareness Week, 1989

All fifty American States and the territories have various levels of risk from earthquakes. The probabilities of major earthquakes are highest in California and other Western States and continue to increase. However, vulnerabilities in the Central and Eastern United States are also increasing. Whenever and wherever a major earthquake occurs, its effects will be felt throughout the social and economic fabric of the entire Nation.

Although recent earthquakes, including the tragic earthquake in Soviet Central Asia last December, have heightened public awareness and stimulated interest in earthquakes, general knowledge is limited about the causes of earthquakes and measures that can reduce their effects. We must learn more about the earthquake threat so that we can take appropriate actions to reduce losses when an earthquake occurs.

The Federal Government, through the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, has been the primary leader in efforts to reduce the risks to life and property from future earthquakes in the United States. This program is a comprehensive multi-agency effort of scientific research, mitigation, preparedness and response planning, and public education.

An informed and educated citizenry is essential to reducing the earthquake risk. Federal, State, and local governments, educational institutions, business, industry, volunteer and service organizations, and individual citizens should increase efforts in mitigating the impact of earthquakes on families, communities, and the Nation.

The Congress, by Public Law 100-706, has designated the first week of April 1989 as "National Earthquake Awareness Week" and authorized and requested the President to issue a commemorative proclamation in observance of this week.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the first week of April 1989 as National Earthquake Awareness Week, and I call upon all public officials and the people of the United States to observe this week with appropriate programs and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirteenth.

GEORGE BUSH