"The National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP), which is authorized by the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977 (Public Law 95-124), as amended, seeks to mitigate earthquake losses in the United States through both basic and directed research and implementation activities in the fields of earthquake science and engineering. For 30 years, NEHRP has reduced the vulnerability of the people and property of the United States through the following: (1) Improvement in the understanding of the processes that generate earthquakes. (2) Improvement in the understanding of the effects of earthquakes in terms of ground shaking and ground failure, building shaking and damage, and on the general infrastructure and economic fabric of the United States. (3) Development of earthquake hazards and risk assessments and earthquake resistant building codes and practices. (4) Implementation of earthquake risk reduction measures through the adoption of building codes, land use practices, and earthquake response exercises at all levels of government and in the private sectors". (NEHRP Annual Report of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, March 2007, from Preface)