The group brought together by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute is preparing a report for the World Bank that will be distributed to experts globally in October. It will offer up-to-date thinking and recommendations on how to develop projects with practical risk management, Sheller said.
Though the project was aimed at helping developing countries, it could be useful to the United States, Sheller said.
"No matter how well we figure it out, there's always the unexpected," said Sheller, 45, of Penn Valley, who teaches in Drexel's department of culture and communication.
Japan was well-prepared for the earthquake but couldn't sustain such a large tsunami or cope with the resulting nuclear disaster.
"They hadn't counted on the big one," she said. "It's true there's a cost involved, so there's only so much you can do, but if you can do low-cost things, do them."
She learned from a professor at Humboldt State University in California, also at the conference, that the United States is woefully underprepared for a mass-scale evacuation if a major earthquake strikes the Cascadia fault line in the northwestern part of the country.
"Disaster preparedness really requires a better assessment of the hazards," she said. "What if our communication system is wiped out, or our transportation system?"
The group will recommend that communities develop partnerships with others outside their region so they have a plan to provide help in the event of a disaster.
Countries also must focus on evacuations, she said. Two-thirds of those who died in Japan's tsunami were over 60.
"Older people were less likely to get and heed evacuation warnings," she said. "That's a real lesson for other countries: How do you prepare evacuations for elderly people?"
