The first of three scheduled webinars on Earthquake Safety and Mitigation for Schools, sponsored by FEMA, was held on January 20 and drew 300 attendees. Two additional webinars will be held on February 17 and March 17, respectively. Registration is free and is available on the Events tab on this website.

The one-hour webinar has been designed for school officials, teachers, facility managers, and other local stakeholders interested in learning how to reduce earthquake risks and take actions to ensure school safety and continue operations.

On May 4, 2010, the NEHRP Seismic Design Technical Brief No. 2: Seismic Design of Steel Special Moment Frames: A Guide for Practicing Engineers, prepared by the NEHRP Consultants Joint Venture (a partnership of ATC and CUREE) received the Award of Merit in the Study/Research/Guidelines category from the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC). 

You can order this document from our online store.

The 13^th U.S. - Japan Workshop on Improvement of Structural Design and Construction Practices took place at the Fairmont Hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii on April 20-22, 2010. There were 36 attendees. Proceedings of this workshop will be available soon.

5/2010

The ATC team dispatched to Chile to investigate the effects of the February 27, 2010 magnitude-8.8 earthquake that caused widespread damage arrived in Chile on March 28, 2010 and ended its trip on April 3, 2010.  The team consisted of Ramon Gilsanz (ATC Board President) of Gilsanz Murray Steficek LLP, New York City, Bret Lizundia of Rutherford & Chekene, San Francisco, John Price of Curry Price Court, San Diego, and Christopher Rojahn (ATC Executive Director) of Redwood City, California.  The purpose of the trip was to observe the effects of the earthquake on buildings, with the goal of developing new information that can be used to improve engineering practice and perhaps revise and update the engineering guidelines and applications, including guidance on emergency response, that ATC has developed to date.

The team visited the towns of Santiago, Rancagua, San Fernando, Nancagua, Santa Cruz, Peralillo, Poblacion, Pumanque, Lolol, Curico, Talca, Constitucion, Chanco, Pelluhue, Concepcion, Talcahuano, and Vina del Mar where they met with several engineers, observed damaged and undamaged buildings, and, in some communities, interviewed local citizens.  You can read a summary of the team’s initial observations here.

ATC Team Member Bret Lizundia inspects damage to adobe building in Chile