Citing the unpredictability of earthquakes and the devastation they can wreak, the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program released its strategic plan to reduce such risks.

More than 75 million people live in urban areas that have a moderate to high risk of earthquake, program officials said, citing a National Research Council report. NEHRP is a federal interagency program; it operates under the National Institute of Standards and Technology and includes FEMA, the National Science Foundation and the U.S Geological Survey.

The strategic plan outlines the program's goals for the next four fiscal years: to further understand an earthquake's impact, to develop measures to reduce an earthquake's impact on individuals and society, and to improve the dissemination of earthquake information to emergency responders and the community.

The report was released April 15, days before a magnitude 5.2 quake occurred in the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone of southeast Illinois, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The April 18 quake was felt as far north as the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and as far south as Georgia, but only minor structural damage was reported near the quake's epicenter, USGS stated.