'Buildings At Risk' Summit to Address Earthquake Damage

Words: Bronzella Cleveland

The third annual Buildings At Risk ǀ Earthquake Loss Reduction Summit hosted by the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California (SEAOSC) and Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC) will be held on Oct. 8 and Oct. 15, 2013 in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Simpson Strong-Tie is a Platinum Sponsor of the Summit and will provide local support from its Stockton and Riverside, Calif., locations.

The purpose of the Buildings At Risk Summit is to reach out to all stakeholders (building owners and managers, public officials and policy-makers, home and business owners, architects and engineers, building officials, insurance companies and others) to provide awareness of seismic risk and how to mitigate that risk through identifying and strengthening "buildings at risk," including light-frame weak-story buildings, older residential buildings, non-ductile concrete buildings, and URM buildings.

"The Summit has grown since 2011, providing a necessary forum for members of the local community to come together and discuss identification, strengthening and associated policy efforts for vulnerable buildings to reduce injury, damage and even death in the event of an earthquake," says Jeff Ellis, S.E., past Summit Steering Committee chairman and director of codes & standards for Simpson Strong-Tie. "With our commitment to helping build safer and stronger structures, Simpson Strong-Tie strongly supports these collaborative education and planning efforts, and is proud to continue our ongoing sponsorship of the Buildings At Risk Summit."

Financial, political and industry leaders will speak at the Summit, including Mark Ghilarducci, Cal OES director and homeland security advisor to Gov. Brown; Tom LaBonge, L.A. city councilman; Naomi Kelly, SF city & county administrator; Dr. Lucy Jones, national earthquake expert; and Glenn Pomeroy, California Earthquake Authority CEO.

The Summit will be held at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in L.A. on Oct. 8 and at the Delancey Street Foundation in San Francisco on Oct. 15.

For more information and to register, visit http://www.seaosc.org/events_bar_registration.cfm.

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