NorthQuake 2022 concluded yesterday. The final part of the conference covered earthquake engineering, earthquake risk and societal impacts.
Among the presentations there was one by Sólveig Þorvaldsdóttir about a project which is to be worked on in collaboration with the municipalities of Árborg, Fjallabyggð, Múlaþing and Norðurþing and is concerned with improving the response to geohazards so that communities recover sooner after events such as earthquakes, landslides and/or floods.
Brynjar Örn Arnarson then presented the results of his B.Sc. final project in Geology. The project deals with the foundations of houses in Húsavík. Brynjar carried out part of the project at Þekkingarnetið during the summers of 2020 and 2021. He was then an employee of Norðurþing through a government initiative for student summer jobs. The project was carried out in collaboration with Benedikt Halldórsson, who was Brynjar's supervisor for the project. Staff at the Þingeyja Knowledge Network provided on-site guidance on practical matters and supervised the summer work.
It is safe to say that we have enjoyed following Brynjar from the summer of 2020, when he took the first steps in preparing his final project, to hearing him present the results and outcomes of his work. We also hope to see more of Brynjar in this field, perhaps with further research or findings at NorthQuake 2025.
The conference concluded with a public panel discussion, where residents had the opportunity to ask experts who had presented research projects and findings at the conference about earthquakes and earthquake risk. Katrín Sigurjónsdóttir, the Mayor of Norðurþing, also took part in the panel and answered questions concerning, among other things, the council's response to earthquakes.
We would like to finally thank the guests of NorthQuake 2022 for coming and look forward to seeing them all, and more, at NorthQuake 2025.
