FED ERA L E ME R GEN CY MAN AGE MEN T AGE N CY FEMA 26 8/95I 

Creating a Seismic Safety


Advisory Board 

A G U I D E T O E A R T H Q U A K E R I S K M A N A G E M E N T 

I L N N 
Creating a Seismic Safety Advisory Board


A GUIDE TO EARTHQUAKE RISK MANAGEMENT 

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY 

500 C Street, S.W. 

Washington, DC 20472 
Disclaimer 

Creating a Seismic Safety Advisory Board: A Guide to Earthquake Risk Managementwas prepared by the Seismic Safety Commission of California under an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Its purpose is to assist states, groups of states, local governments, 

or private-sector entities in developing seismic safety advisory boards. It also contains 

guidelines for strategic planning and developing a model seismic risk management program to 

enhance seismic safety once the board is established. However, neither the Seismic Safety Commission nor FEMA can ensure that by using the concepts in this publication, either public- or 

private-sector entities can avoid bodily injury or property damage when an earthquake occurs. 

Therefore, neither the Seismic Safety Commission nor FEMA, nor any of their employees makes any warranty, express or implied, nor assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process described herein. 
Contents


Acknowledgments ............................................ iv


1. Introduction ........................................... 1


2. Why Create a Board? ........................................... 3


3. Puffing It Together: Creating a Board ................ ........................... 7


4. Selecting Advisory Board Members ......................................... 19


5. Operations: Getting to Work .................. ......................... 21


6. Staffing the Board .. ......................................... 25


7. Footing the Bill: Funding a Board ........................................... 27


8. Strategic Planning: The Long View ........................................... 31


9. Risk Reduction and Management Plan ............................................ 37


Appendix A: Model Executive Order ... .......................................... A-1


Appendix B: Model Enabling Legislation .. .........................B-1 ..

Appendix C: Example of Interstate Compact ... . ......................................... C-1 

Appendix D: Example of Articles of Incorporation . ...................................... D-1


Appendix E: Example of Corporate Bylaws .. .......................E-1 ...

Appendix F: Model Staff Duty Descriptions .. ..........................F-1 ...

Appendix G: Model Workshop Design .. .........................G-1 ...

Appendix H: Workshop Roster .. .................................
 H-i 

Appendix I: Existing Seismic Safety Advisory Boards . .................................... -1


AppendixJ: Lexicon of Terms ............................................. J-1


Appendix K: California Seismic Safety Commission ...................................... K-1


iii 
-Acknowledgments


The Seismic Safety Commission of California developed this manual under an 

agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist states in creating seismic safety advisory boards. 

States in this country present a myriad varieties of geologic conditions, types of 

construction, populations, and awareness, of and interest in seismic safety. This manual incorporates points of view from several states, the Central United States 

Earthquake Consortium, and the New England States, Earthquake Consortium to 

reflect the concerns and needs of every region of the United States as much as possible. 

The project manager consulted with representatives of agencies from several states, 

and organized a workshop of key personnel from across the country to assess and 

suggest amendments to the manual. 

The Seismic Safety Commission acknowledges and thanks all who assisted in this 

work. In addition to Commissioner Stanley Scott, who devoted hours of review and 

,advice, the following individuals participated in developing or contributed to the 

manual: 

Wafter I. Arabasz-Director, University of Utah Seismograph Stations 

Bob Carey-Earthquake Program Manager, Utah Comprehensive Emergency 

Management 

Dan Ccireflo-Earthquake Preparedness, Supervisor, Arkansas Office of Emergency 

Services 

Bob Ciithero-EarthquakeProgram Manager, South Carolina Emergency 

Preparedness, Division 

David Curtis-PastPresident, Structural Engineers Association of Utah 

Donna Dannels-Emergency Management Officer, Office of Earthquakes and 

Natural Hazards, Federal Emergency Management Agency 

Ted DeVrlend-Staff Services Analyst, California Seismic Safety Commission 

Jack DuBose-Deputy Director, Arkansas Office of Emergency Services 

John Gibb-Earthquake Program Supervisor, New York State Emergency 

Management Office 

James Golden-Assistant Chief Structural Engineer, Structures Division, Utah 

Department of Transportation 

James Goodfellow-Earthquake Program Manager, Nevada Division of Emergency 

Management 

Ed Hensley-Research Writer, California Seismic Safety Commission 

Caryn Johnson-Natural Hazards Intern, Utah Comprehensive Emergency 

Management 

Louis H. Klotz-Executive Director, New England States Earthquake Consortium 

David S. Mayer-Earthquake Program Coordinator, Metropolitan Service District, 

Portland, Oregon 

iv 
Robert B. Olshansky-Assistant Professor, Department of Urban and Regional 

Planning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 

Harvey Ryland-Executive Director, Central United States Earthquake Consortium 

Paula Schulz-Earthquake Program Manager, Office of Emergency Services, Coastal 

Region, Oakland, California 

Cheryl Tateishi-Earthquake Program Manager, Office of Emergency Services,, 

Southern Region, Pasadena, California 

L. Thomas Tobin-Executive Director, California Seismic Safety Commission 

Stephen Weiser-Earthquake Program Manager, Idaho Bureau of Disaster Services 

Reginald A. Yates-Earthquake Program Manager, Arizona Department of 

Emergency and Military Affairs, Division of Emergency Services 

T. Leslie Youd-Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Brigham Young 

University 

This manual is the product of research by the commission's staff, shaped by the 

comments and advice of these contributors. 

Timothy C. Cronin, Esq. 

Staff Counsel/Project Manager 

Seismic Safety Commission 

. :~~~~~~ 
Section 1 

Introduction 

The purpose of this manual is to assist The need for seismic safety advisory 

interested states, coalitions of states, or boards and for model seismic risk 

confederations of local governments to management programs is based on the 

develop and nurture seismic safety following assumptions: 

advisory boards. The first part contains * A damaging earthquake can occur with 

"how-to" tips and advice to assist states little or no warning. With each passing 

that already have such panels in year, the potential for one increases. 

upgrading their advisory boards. * Positive, goal-oriented leadership is a 

The second part of the manual prerequisite to starting an effective 

contains advice on strategic planning advisory board. 

for improving seismic safety. * Organizations at many levels of ,govSpecifically, it includes guidelines for ernment and in the private sector have 

developing a model seismic risk responsibilities in seismic safety. The 

management program by which to board can help develop comprehensive 

and consistent 

gauge programs for seismic 

progress. safety and risk manageA seismic EARTHQUAKES ARBE IPOSSIBLE ment. 

safety advisory IN VIRTUALLY AL L 'ARTS OF a Earthquakes can cause 

board is a TH UN E D TA extensive property 

multi- UNITED STA FEM EVERY ~ damage and endanger

disciplinary STATE SHOULD BE PT EP ARED. lives, but this risk can 

panel be reduced and 

composed of managed by prudent 

volunteers with expertise in fields policies for locating and designing 

related to earthquakes and preparation structures. 

for and response to earthquakes, such * Managing earthquake risks has collateral benefits, bringing about imas earth sciences, engineering, proved buildings, dams, transportation 

emergency services, local government, facilities, building stock, communicasocial services, and public policy. They tions, fire safety, toxic materials manare drawn from the private sector, agement, and emergency response. 

academia, and government. The board's * Concerted efforts bring long-term functions are to: progress toward seismic safety. 

* Advise the legislature and For most states seismic safety is a 

administrative agencies new need crammed onto an already full 

* Advocate earthquake programs agenda. As a result, it is not being 

* Promote improvements to seismic addressed by a statewide governmental 

safety and procedures program in a majority of states. 

* Identify seismic hazards Earthquakes occur less frequently than 

* Coordinate plans and actions of other disasters, such as floods, 

responsible agencies, programs, and hurricanes, and tornadoes. Consegovernment levels quently, the time, expense, and effort 

• Gather, integrate, and transfer of contending with seismic safety 

information from a wide range of concerns must often be weighed against 

sources the probability-the 'odds"-that a 

* Plan for the long-term major earthquake will not occur in a 

implementation, review, and decade or even within a generation. maintenance of seismic safety 

programs 
Making progress in reducing and 

managing earthquakes risk requires a 

long-term commitment. Many of the 

planning issues addressed in this 

manual are also involved in preparing 

for, responding to, and recovering from 

other types of disasters. Therefore, the 

creation and maintenance of the board 

will also help enhance general 

emergency preparation, response, and 

recovery plans. The cost of reducing risk 

and strengthening emergency response 

capabilities is more than justified in 

view of the cost of damage, repair, and 

rehabilitation-that is, the cost of not 

preparing. In this case, a "stitch" in 

time saves money and lives. 

This manual is meant to help in the 

creation of a seismic safety advisory 

board-either as an autonomous agency 

or as part of an existing entity. It 

provides advice gained from dealing 

with existing hazards and offers options 

to consider when establishing a new 

board or revitalizing an existing board 

to meet the unique needs of a region. 

The board will provide access to 

expertise, giving government as well as 

the private sector help in focusing 

attention on earthquake-related issues. 

Although this manual attempts to 

create "perfect" boards, it allows room 

to select from options and do what is 

necessary to establish a board and get it 

underway. Without the seismic safety 

advisory board, state and local 

governments are ill-equipped to 

develop consistent and comprehensive 

programs for improving safety and 

reducing risks. 

2 
Section 2 

Why Create a Board? 

Earthquakes pose unique public policy 

challenges. Awareness is limited outside 

a few areas. Major earthquakes are 

infrequent events with potentially great 

consequences. Few jurisdictions regard 

them as clear and present dangers, so 

daily problems tend to crowd out 

earthquake issues. There is little 

understanding about what can be done 

to lessen earthquake risk. Moreover, 

because earthquakes occur in most 

areas less frequently than other major 

disasters-such as floods, hurricanes, 

and tornadoes-the resources required 

to deal with seismic issues are often 

weighed against the probability that no 

major event will occur in the near 

future. As a result, a majority of states 

are not addressing earthquake risk in an 

on-going statewide program. A seismic 

safety advisory board can help keep 

efforts to address this risk viable. 

Responsibility for seismic safety is 

typically spread among many local, 

state, and federal agencies as well as 

individuals and businesses. Emergency 

response and recovery may be a multistate effort. It is also crowded onto 

disparate agendas and mingled with 

more immediate demands that get a 

higher priority. Seismic safety stands a 

better chance of increased priority in 

both the public and the private sectors 

if one entity has responsibility for 

bringing it into focus and to the 

attention of the public and the policy 

makers. 

CREATING A SEISMIC SAFETY 

ADVISORY BOARD IS JUSTIFIED 

ORGANIZATIONALLY AND 

FISCALLY. 

State and local governments are 

short of resources and have crowded 

agendas. But despite crowded agendas 

and desperate budgets, those entrusted 

with public safety should not gamble 

on the future. It must be remembered 

that a "moderate"" chance of earthquake 

refers only to occurrence interval, not 

to the level of damage that such an 

event may cause. A seismic safety 

advisory can provide a low-cost 

common-sense means to ensure that 

legitimate, long-term seismic safety 

problems receive the attention they 

deserve and the mitigation efforts they 

demand. 

EARTHQUAKES ARE POSSIBLE 

IN VIRTUALLY ALL PARTS OF 

THE UNITED STATES. 

The I. S.-Earthquake Country 

The Plymouth pilgrims felt their first 

earthquake in 1638, thus discovering 

that the northeastern states are 

seismically active. In 1727, a temblor 

shook the eastern seaboard from Maine 

to Delaware, and in 1755, an even 

stronger quake rocked Massachusetts 

and rendered the streets of Boston 

impassable. The 1925 La Malbaie, 

Quebec, earthquake was felt over an 

area of 1 million square miles, from 

New England as far south as Virginia. A 

pair of damaging earthquakes occurred 

near Ossipee, New Hampshire, in 1940, 

and were felt to distances of 350 miles 

and over an area of 400,000 square 

miles. More recently, New England has 

been subjected to ground shaking from 

two moderate quakes occurring in New 

Brunswick during 1982, a moderate 

earthquake in central New Hampshire 

in 1982, and another moderate temblor 

in New York State in 1983. 

Even the southeastern states were 

reminded of their seismicity in 1886, 

when a major earthquake struck 

Charleston, South Carolina, causing 
severe damage. In what is now the 

central United States a series of great 

earthquakes exceeding Richter 

magnitude 8 occurred on the New 

Madrid (Missouri) fault during the 

winter of 1811-12, rocking what are 

now the states of Arkansas, Illinois, 

Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, 

Kentucky, and Tennessee. These events 

were of such enormous magnitude that 

the flow of the Mississippi River was 

temporarily reversed. Ground shaking 

was so strong and far reaching that 

buildings were severely damaged in 

Chicago and Cincinnati. Pavement was 

cracked and church bells rung in the 

mid-Atlantic and New England states, a 

thousand miles from the New Madrid 

epicenters. These earthquakes were felt 

over an area of 5 million square miles. 

The Pacific Coast states-Alaska, 

Washington, Oregon, California, and 

Hawaii-are among the nation's most 

seismically active, having experienced 

damaging earthquakes and volcanic 

activity within the lifetimes of 

residents. Utah, Montana, Nevada, 

Idaho, and portions of Wyoming and 

Arizona also experience earthquakes. 

EARTHQUAKES CAN BE 

AMONG THE MOST 

MANAGEABLE DISASTERS. 

Although earthquakes occur more 

frequently in the western states than 

elsewhere in the United States, 

earthquakes in the central and eastern 

states are potentially more damaging. 

This discrepancy is caused by two 

things: the large percentage of 

unreinforced masonry buildings and a 

Figure 2-1-Seismicity of the U.S. in the 20th century 

Seismicity of the United States: 1900-1993 

From the United States Geological Survey 

National Earthquake Information Center 

more consistent underlying rock that western states' geologic structure tends 

transmits shock waves farther. The to break up earthquake vibrations, 

4

whereas that of the central and eastern 

states transmits vibrations relatively 

undiminished. 

Eastern and central earthquake 

shocks travel two to four times the 

distance of those in California, covering 

areas four to forty times greater. The 

East also includes denser populations, 

most of whom are not trained to 

respond to an earthquake. The heavy industrial development means that 

central and eastern states face a greater probability of damage resulting from 

toxic wastes, chemicals, and collapses. 

Managing the Risk 

The risk to life and property from 

earthquakes is especially significant in 

areas of rapidly growing urban areas 

near earthquake faults. In such areas, 

each year that passes without 

earthquake planning increases the 

potential for catastrophe. Earthquakes 

can, however, be among the most 

manageable of disasters. Eliminating 

vulnerabilities will reduce risks, and 

developing the plans and resources will 

help manage those that remain. 

A properly composed and structured 

board can provide the long-term commitment, responsibility, and 

oversight necessary to develop and 

pursue meaningful seismic safety goals 

and effective risk-reduction programs. It 

can accomplish this by reviewing, 

evaluating, and helping the work of 

governmental agencies and the private 

sector. It can monitor seismic safety 

programs to ensure their adequacy and 

effectiveness. It can focus attention on 

seismic safety and provide a consistent 

policy framework for integrating and 

implementing needed programs. 

Seismic safety must be incorporated

into design and construction practices, 

emergency response, and recovery 

planning for the long-term. Without a 

long-term commitment, effective 

oversight and remedial efforts may be 

short-lived, piecemeal, and ineffective. 

5 

Why Limit It to Earthquakes? 

Earthquakes differ from other natural 

disasters in a number of ways that make 

the threat unique and deserving of a 

single-focus advisory board. Unlike 

floods and most windstorms that create 

relatively localized damage, a large 

earthquake can create an enormous, 

multi-state area of damage that may leave its victims dependent on their 

own resources for days before relief can 

reach them. Moreover, with the 

exception of Alaska, California, and 

Hawaii, earthquake response planning is not a part of the public consciousness 

in most of the United States, as is 

preparation for floods, tornadoes, and 

hurricanes in the central and eastern 

United States. 

Many earthquake risk reduction 

efforts are also unique. Seismic safety 

must not only be integrated into 

construction practices, but emergency 

response, recovery, and long-term risk 

reduction efforts as well. Earthquake 

risk management includes 

improvements in buildings, dams, 

transportation, and communications 

facilities. A seismic safety advisory 

board, by focusing its efforts on 

earthquake-related issues, will have 

plenty to do. 

EARTH-QUAKES CAN CREATE 

ENORMOUS, MULTI-STATE 

DAMAGE, A UNIQUE THREAT 

THAT DESERVES A SINGLEFOCUS ADVISORY BOARD. 

The question of overspecialization is 

certain to arise, particularly in areas 

where floods, hurricanes, or tornadoes 

are common. Earthquake response planning has much in common with 

fire safety, toxic materials handling, 

and other emergency response

preparations, and the general level of 

response planning for these and other 

natural disasters. Broadening the focus 

of the advisory board to include these 
and other natural disasters may allow it 

to address many of the interrelated 

issues relevant to preparation for, 

response to, and recovery from other 

types of natural disasters as well as 

earthquakes. Broadening the focus of 

the advisory board to make it multihazard is an option that can be 

exercised, particularly if it is the only 

approach available to concentrate 

attention on earthquake-related issues, 

but to do so may dilute its effectiveness 

in dealing with earthquake-specific 

mitigation matters. 

The Bottom Line 

A principal obstacle to effective 

earthquake risk management is lack of 

commitment by both the public and 

private sectors to make seismic safety a 

priority in allocating financial and 

other resources. Yet reasonable, longterm, incremental investment of 

resources to avoid future earthquake 

damage and economic and social 

disruption is enormously more effective 

than paying for building repairs and 

victim assistance after an earthquake. 

Some seismic risk reduction measures 

may be costly and complex; others may 

be inexpensive and relatively simple. 

An advisory body with a broad 

perspective can help weigh the costbenefit of such measures, set priorities, 

and provide oversight for prudent longterm progress. 

THE BOARD IS THE OUNCE OF 

PREVENTION THAT WILL 

PROVE ITS WORTH IN 

REDUCED RESPONSE AND 

RECOVERY COSTS. 

Moreover, earthquake risk-reduction 

measures often result in other benefits, 

such as long-term improvements in 

buildings, dams, transportation facilities, 

communications, fire safety, toxic 

materials handling, and emergency 

response capabilities. The board can be 

the catalyst that promotes an efficient, 

cost-effective ounce of preventive 

investment in seismic safety that will 

prove its worth in a general state of 

preparedness for other natural hazards as 

well as earthquake risk reduction. 

STATES WITH SEISMIC SAFETY 

ADVISORY BOARDS WILL BE 

MORE. SUCCESSFUL IN 

REDUCING EARTHQUAKE 

RISK. 

A seismic safety advisory board can 

enable both government and the private 

sector to respond to multiple needs with 

expertise that would not otherwise be 

available and make timely decisions on 

what should be done and when. 

Moreover, as a credible advocate of 

seismic safety that can help integrate the 

competing interests of multiple agencies 

and organizations, the board can 

promote needed seismic safety programs 

by building a supportive, nonpartisan 

constituency. 

Future earthquakes will occur, and 

scientists and engineers know a great 

deal about how to minimize earthquake 

losses. A board can apply this 

knowledge to ensure that in the next 

century all states and communities will 

be seismically safer places to live. 

Unless earthquake risks are reduced and 

emergency response is strengthened, 

many of this nation's cities and 

millions of its citizens will remain at 

great-and unnecessary-risk. 

6 
Section 3 

Putting It Together: Creating a 

This section discusses the creation of a 

seismic safety advisory board. A board 

can be constituted to advise a state, a 

coalition of states, or even a confederation of local governments.. It can 

also be a private-sector entity. This 

section will emphasize formulation of 

state-level boards and give a number of 

options. Because creating an ideal board 

may be impossible, the strategy should 

be to get started and then improve the 

organization as necessary. 

Creating a State-Level Board 

As the principal governing entity of a 

major population state government is 

responsible for the safety of its residents. Accordingly, state government is 

obligated to t+lo- rnnvlcTno LaNC L1,mazuLO L 

adequate to BECAUSE CREATIN 

meet the BOARD MAY BE I need. These 

measures typi- THE STRATEGY SH 

cally include GET STARTED A 

working with 

the local gov- IMPROVE 

ernments (the ORGANIZAT] 

entity

responsible NECESSA 

for building 

safety and 

land-use planning, as well as the 

principal governmental resource at the 

site of any disaster) to help and 

encourage their seismic safety efforts 

and to improve their performance. 

Therefore, a state-level board can 

provide a focal point for developing 

statewide policies and implementing 

needed improvements. Moreover, a 

state-level board can recommend 

seismic safety components for statewide 

comprehensive plans or policies-for 

example, industrial development, 

[G 

AIP 

Board 

hazardous material control, or 

environmental quality. This might 

include the identification of hazard 

zones and the development of criteria 

and standards that should be applied in 

such zones. Finally, a state-level seismic 

safety advisory board can provide 

analysis of a state's seismic safety 

statutes and regulations and evaluate 

their application in all cities, counties, 

and special districts. 

A state-level board can become a 

legally authorized entity of state 

government through an executive order 

issued by the governor or by legislative 

enactment. Each method of creating 

the board has benefits and drawbacks. 

It is important to involve someone with 

knowledge of state 

government and the 

legislative process. Even 

AN IDEAL good, well-meaning ideas 

OSSIBLE, must 'fit in." 

JLD BE TO An expeditious way 

to create and empower a 

NE) THEN state-level board is for 

TH E the governor to create it 

[01q AS by executive order. A board created by 

RY -_________ executive order can 

ensure participation by 

all state agencies in the 

executive branch. On the other hand, 

there are several drawbacks to using an 

executive order. Earthquake risk 

management is a long-term endeavor. 

An effective board must be an agency 

with staying power.. Governors change, 

and a new governor can unilaterally 

rescind the order. Thus, creation by 

executive order may not provide the 

necessary continuity. Moreover, except 

during emergencies, a governor ca nnot 

mandate the participation of local 

governments or elements of the private 

sector. If the board is created by an 
executive order, the ability to promote 

earthquake-related programs at the 

local level and in the private sector may 

be hampered. 

A state-level board can also be 

created by legislative enactment that 

defines its powers and gives it a 

statutory mandate to promote a 

consistent seismic safety policy and the 

coordination of earthquake-related 

programs of agencies at all 

governmental levels and with the 

private sector. Inasmuch as such a 

board's mandate grows out of the 

legislative process of debate, compromise, and consensus, including 

ratification by the governor, a legislative enactment probably assures the 

board of a degree of bipartisan support 

that may be lacking if established by 

executive order. 

An executive order may be the 

quickest way to establish a board. Some 

of the disadvantages of using an 

executive order may be mitigated if the 

order directs the board to draft and 

sponsor legislation creating a state-level 

board mirroring the one created by the. 

governor. In essence, this course seeks 

legislative ratification of the governor's 

action. 

A BOARD IS LESS LIKELY TO 

BE AT THE MERCY OF 

SHIFTING POLITICAL 

PRESSURES IF CREATED BY 

LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENT. 

Whichever method is used, the 

following components should be 

considered for inclusion in either a 

gubernatorial or legislative board: 

1. A declaration of the seismic safety 

advisory board's purpose and scope of 

responsibility. 

Typically a board is created when 

there is interest in doing something 

about earthquake risk. Because progress 

will involve activities of many different 

agencies at various levels of 

government and the private sector and 

expertise from diverse disciplines, the 

purpose statement must be broad. The 

board should be directed to develop a 

consistent policy and promote 

earthquake-related programs at all 

governmental levels and in the private 

sector. Any legislative declaration must 

recognize the comprehensiveness of 

the task. It should not be just a matter 

of retrofitting buildings, improving 

emergency response, or recovering 

from an earthquake. The board should 

be responsible for keeping the 

earthquake issue on the public agenda 

and advocate an acceptable rate of 

progress. 

The executive order or enabling 

legislation creating a board should 

acknowledge that: 

* Earthquakes can cause extensive 

property damage and endanger the 

lives of people. 

* Earthquakes can overwhelm local 

and state emergency response 

resources. 

* The knowledge and technology 

exists to make significant 

improvements in seismic safety; for 

example, retrofitting potentially 

hazardous buildings. 

v Earthquake-related problems require 

the knowledge and expertise of the 

earth sciences, earthquake engineering, the social and the behavioral sciences, emergency 

management, finance, insurance, 

business, public policy, and public 

administration. 

* Many different agencies at various 

levels of government as well as 

elements of the private sector have 

substantial responsibilities in 

seismic safety, and these need to be 

discharged in a consistent and 

mutually supportive manner. 

* Earthquake risk management can 

bring about improvements in 

buildings, dams, transportation 

facilities, communications, fire 

safety, toxic materials handling, 

emergency response preparations, 

and the general level of response 

planning for earthquakes and other 

natural disasters. 

* Long-term progress in seismic safety 

requires broadly based and comprehensive efforts, planned for, 

8 
coordinated, and promoted by the 

board. 

2. Specific language creating the board as 

an autonomous entity. 

The legislation or executive order 

creating the advisory board should 

determine where the board will be 

placed within the organizational 

hierarchy of state government. There 

are advantages to creating it as an 

autonomous entity rather than as part 

of an existing agency. If its functions 

are incorporated into an existing 

agency, rather than as a stand-alone 

organization, it will probably have to 

respect the host agency's agenda and 

the political agenda of the current 

governor. Moreover, the fiscal and 

political limitations imposed on the 

host agency will limit the board too. 

incorporating an advisory board into 

an existing agency may also limit its 

ability to develop independent 

perspectives and could discourage the 

participation of the private sector and 

local governments. The result may be 

institutionalized biases and 

bureaucratic processes that can insulate 

even the best organization. 

To ensure accountability as well as 

autonomy, the board can be required 

to report periodically to the governor 

and to the legislature, presenting 

findings, reviewing progress, and 

making recommendations on seismic 

safety and earthquake risk 

management. Such a requirement will 

signify legislative or gubernatorial 

recognition of the need for a 

continuing policy-making progress for 

seismic safety. It will also ensure that 

the board's agenda is reported regularly 

to the legislature or governor. Through 

this kind of merchandising, the 

executive and legislative branches may 

rely on the board for guidance in 

formulating state seismic safety policy. 

3. Procedures for appointing the board's 

members and for selecting its chair and 

vice-chair. 

Procedures should be established 

for selecting the board's chair and vicechair, as well as for replacing them in 

the event of vacancies. Selection of the 

chair and vice-chair could follow either 

of two options: appointment by the 

governor or election by the members. 

Procedures for the nomination and 

appointment of board members should 

be specified. The most advisable option 

is to solicit the names of prospective 

members from professional organizations and agencies in appropriate fields 

of expertise. The appointing authority 

should retain the power to make the final selection. This would allow the 

flexibility needed to hand-pick board 

members after conducting interviews 

and evaluating the nominees' expertise 

and other qualifications, including 

commitment to active participation in 

the advisory board's activities. Such a 

procedure makes it less likely that a 

board will include members who fail to 

attend and participate consistently. 

Another option is for the 

appointing authority to shop around, 

making inquiries regarding individuals 

who are recognized for their expertise 

in their fields and professions. Good 

candidates could then be 'drafted,' 

allowing professional organizations to 

choose members to represent their area 

of expertise. This has the advantage of 

creating strong relationships, with the 

organizations making such selections, 

but has the disadvantage of giving the 

final say to those groups. 

It may be advisable to have 

members appointed by the chief 

elected executive and confirmed by the 

legislative branch of government. For a 

state-level board, it will be helpful to 

include a member from each house of 

the legislature. 

4. Definition of the board's general 

powers and duties. 

The executive order or legislative 

enactment creating the board should 

clearly define its powers and duties. 

Powers that may be conferred on the 

advisory board may include the 

following 

Authority to appoint committees 

from its own membership which 

may also include nonmembers at 

the board's discretion. Power to 

appoint advisory committees from 

interested public and private groups 

and appoint ex officio members 

who shall not be entitled to vote 

but are allowed to participate in 

discussions and provide advice. 

9 
* Authority to contract for profes­ * Setting goals and priorities for the sional services and research required public and private sectors. by the board or required for the * Requesting appropriate state performance of necessary work and agencies to devise criteria to services which, in the board's 

opinion, cannot satisfactorily be promote earthquake safety. 

performed by its own officers and * Analyzing post-earthquake recovery 

employees or by other federal, state, issues in cooperation with the state 

or local governmental agencies. agency providing recovery services. 

* Authority to accept grants, con-

* Recommending program changes 

tributions, and appropriations from for state and local agencies and the 

public agencies, private private sector to improve 

foundations, or individuals to earthquake risk management. 

ensure its continued function in * Reviewing recovery and 

times of budgetary ebbs. reconstruction after damaging

* Authority to enter into agreements earthquakes and making 

to act cooperatively with private appropriate recommendations. 

nonprofit scientific, educational, * Gathering, analyzing, and or 

professional associations or disseminating information.

foundations engaged in promoting * Recommending and sponsoring 

seismic safety, including activities training to improve the competence 

under the National Earthquake of personnel. 

Hazard Reduction Program. * Helping coordinate earthquake 

* Authority to administer oaths and safety activities of government at all 

issue subpoenas for the attendance levels. 

of witnesses, the production of * Establishing and maintaining documents, and testimony in the working relationships with other 

conduct of any hearing, federal, state, or local boards, investigation, or study. departments, and agencies, as well 

S. Establishment of and statement of as private, nonprofit, and volunteer 

objectives for the state's earthquake organizations. 

risk management program. * Providing information to other 

The executive order or legislative agencies from the National 

enactment creating a board should Earthquake Hazard Reduction 

clearly state its principal purpose: Program and principal state 

developing and promoting a agencies involved in earthquake risk 

comprehensive and consistent management. 

earthquake risk management program. * Encouraging research that will 

The program should set priorities and contribute to improved seismic 

schedules, recommend funding sources safety and risk management. 

and amounts, as well as other resources * Encouraging the translation, needed to reduce earthquake dissemination, and use of research vulnerabilities statewide significantly findings and other knowledge. by one or more long-term target dates. 7. Promotion of an earthquake risk The board should be authorized to 

explore and report what needs to be management program. 

done, who needs to do it, what the The executive order or legislation 

probable costs will be, and what degree creating a board should empower it to 

of priority should be accorded the prin- promote an earthquake risk managecipal remedial measures. (See Section 8 ment program prepared in 

for a discussion of strategic planning.) consultation with the appropriate state 

and local agencies, the private .sector, 6. Definition of the board's risk- and the legislature. This will require management responsibilities. authorization for the board to: 

The executive order or legislation * Review proposed legislation related creating a board should define the to earthquake safety, advise the board's responsibility for any or all of governor and legislature concerning the following: 

10

the proposals, and recommend 

needed legislation. 

* Recommend the addition, deletion, 

or modification of state agency 

standards to help reduce risk-and 

promote mitigation. 

* Conduct hearings, investigations, 

inquiries, or studies to investigate 

seismic safety problems and issues 

as well as the effects of seismic 

events. 

* Review the state's budget and 

review grant proposals for 

earthquake-related activities and 

advise the governor and legislature 

on them. 

8. Authorization to consult with other 

agencies and organizations. 

The executive order or legislation 

creating the advisory board should 

authorize it to consult with appropriate 

federal, state, and local agencies, the 

private sector, volunteer groups, and 

the legislature. It may be advisable to 

authorize the board to hold joint 

hearings with other groups and 

conduct other activities as necessary 

for the development and maintenance 

of such a program. 

9. Authorization to employ an executive 

director and employees. 

The board will need the authority 

to appoint an executive director or 

program manager, who will be 

responsible for managing day-to-day 

affairs, subject to the direction of the 

board and in compliance with its 

policies. Depending on the scope of 

the board's activities and financial 

resources, it may also be advisable to 

empower the executive director to 

recruit and employ other staff 

members to carry out the board's 

functions. 

Experience with existing statewide 

and local boards has demonstrated that 

the most effective boards are typically 

established and operating before they 

select an executive director or hire 

staff. In those instances where an 

executive director was named and a 

staff was established before the board is 

formed, it was not uncommon for staff 

to set the policy and goals. Not only 

does this compromise the concept 

underlying creation of the board, in 

some instances it also leads to a lack of 

involvement with staff, a failure of 

staff to use the expertise available from 

board members, and a staff agenda that 

is inconsistent with that of the board. 

10. Authorization for per diem and 

compensation for expenses. 

Fiscal stress may very well make it 

necessary for the members of the 

advisory board to serve without 

compensation. On the other hand, 

members will typically devote large 

amounts of otherwise uncompensated 

time to the advisory board's pursuit of 

seismic safety and hazard mitigation. 

Equity may thus dictate that, at the 

very least, they be paid the state's 

standard per diem for each day's 

attendance at a meeting of the board, 

plus necessary travel expenses as 

determined by the state's fiscal control 

agency. Paying a small stipend for 

attending meetings is a useful gesture 

that recognizes a member's 

contribution to the board. 

11. Authorization to establish a program 

for responding to earthquake 

predictions and other forecasts. 

The advisory board also may wish 

to initiate a comprehensive program to 

prepare the state for responding to 

earthquake predictions or forecasts. 

The program could be implemented 

with the assistance and participation of 

other state, federal, and local agencies. 

The foregoing components 

suggested for an executive order or 

legislative enactment creating a board 

may not necessarily be appropriate for 

all states and can be tailored to meet a 

state's needs. A model executive order 

and a model legislative act for creation 

of a state-level board are contained in 

appendixes A and B, respectively. 

11 
Creating a Single-State Board 

1. Evaluate the state's earthquake risk and risk management needs. 

2. Identify representatives of appropriate state and local government and 

professions to plan the creation of a seismic safety advisory board. 

3. Identify funding sources. 

4. Decide the following: 

a. Executive order vs. legislation to create a board. 

b. Which professions and areas of expertise should be represented on the 

board. 

c. How should members be nominated and selected? 

d. How many members should the board have? 

e. Which members, if any, should be authorized to designate alternates. 

f. Which of the suggested components should be incorporated into the 

vehicle creating the board. 

S. Draft the executive order or legislation creating the board. 

6. Issue executive order/enact legislation creating the board. 

7. Select board members. 

8. Convene first meeting and commence formulation of the state's 

earthquake risk management agenda. 

state areas subject to widespread 

Multi-State Board damage from a single earthquake or 

where individual states lack the Areas of the United States encom- weeidvda ttslc h 

passing millions of square miles and resources to establish an advisory board. A multi-state coalition can also several states may be subject to work with existing state or local 

earthquake damage from a single major advisory boards to integrate earthquake 

seismic event. The historic record ris bardset prograt ath 

demonstrates this vulnerability. A risk management programs at the 

single seismic safety advisory board set regional level. A multi-state board can upsasian coalition o yarts hi of te provide a credible voice on earthquakeup as a coalition or partnership of the related issues, improve communication 

states in such an area can offer more among member states, and promote 

resources than several single-state consistent polices and programs. The 

boards. A coalition may also provide a board could formulate earthquake risk 

coordinating body for a group of single- management programs and emergency 

state boards. A multi-state entity would response measures, review earthquake 

be able to develop plans and advise on recovery plans of the member states, 

risk reduction programs, emergency and facilitate mutual aid between 

response measures (including member states. A multi-state board 

facilitating mutual aid among states), should not become embroiled in stateand earthquake recovery plans of itsle lpoics risu . member states. It can be a central level politics or issues. 

repository of information and 

equipment in the multi-state area. SAthorizaslation and Congressional 

A board set up as a coalition of 

states may be preferable to a number of Creating a seismic safety advisory board 

state-level boards, particularly in multi- as a multi-state coalition is more 

12

complicated than establishing a singlestate advisory board. Each participating 

state must pass legislation authorizing 

its govermment to join the coalition 

and participate in its activities. The 

legislation must be reasonably 

consistent state-to-state, and each state 

should be able to participate in the 

endeavor as an equal partner. 

Moreover, if the coalition is viewed 

as an agreement or "compact" between 

the participating states, each state must 

petition the United States Congress for 

permission to create the coalition, as 

required by Article I, §10, clause 3, of 

the Constitution. Once Congress 

approves the interstate- compact that 

creates the board, the legislatures in the 

participating states, must ratify it. (See 

Appendix C for an example of an 

interstate compact.) 

Articles of Incorporation 

A multi-state board can be a loosely 

structured association or partnership or 

can be organized as a corporation. 

Examples of corporations are the 

Central United States Earthquake 

Consortium and the New England 

States Earthquake Consortium. A 

corporation is a distinct legal entity 

that limits the participating states' 

liability for the board's debts and 

actions. Another important factor 

favoring incorporation is the continuity 

of corporate status. Risk management is 

a long-term endeavor, and the need for 

emergency planning and public 

information never ends. An incorporated board provides such continuity 

because it exists perpetually, until 

dissolved in conformance with the 

statutes under which it is incorporated. 

Another significant factor favoring 

incorporation of an interstate board is 

the degree of autonomy incorporation 

affords. Control of an incorporated 

board is centralized in its board of 

directors. The directors' autonomy in 

managing the board can provide a 

uniform policy structure and a means 

for developing and promoting the 

earthquake-related programs of all 

participating states. There would be, of 

course, statutory procedures for 

selecting and removing directors. i(See 

Appendix D for an example of articles 

of incorporation; note, however, that 

laws controllingincorporationvarygreatly 

from state to state.) 

If a coalition of states sets up a 

board, the articles of incorporation will 

set forth the purposes for which it is 

formed and the powers granted. In 

most instances the articles of 

incorporation will also specify the 

number of directors authorized to serve 

on the corporation's board. Some states, 

however, allow the articles to establish 

a flexible board, the number of 

directors being set by the corporation's 

bylaws. Bylaws set forth the ground 

rules for the day-to-day management of 

the entity, typically including the 

duties and authority of corporate 

officers, formalities for directors' 

meetings, and the mechanics of voting.. 

Although a coalition is free to tailor its 

board to meet its own needs, the 

following components-along with 

those mentioned already for state-level 

board-should be considered for 

inclusion into the bylaws. of multi-state 

advisory boards. (See Appendix E for an 

example of bylaws.) 

13 
Creating a Multi-State Board


1. Draft a preamble with a declaration of the coalition's purpose and scope of responsibility. 

2. Decide on the qualifications for membership on the board. 

3. Decide on the place of business and, where appropriate, state of 

incorporation. 

4. Decide on voting eligibility and procedures. 

5. Decide on the composition of, powers of, and selection procedures for the 

board's directors and executive leadership. 

6. Decide the powers to confer on the advisory board, such as the following: 

a. Authority to contract for or employ professional services and 

research. 

b. Authority to enter into agreements with private nonprofit scientific, 

educational, or professional associations or foundations. 

c. Authority to accept grants, contributions, and appropriations from public agencies, private foundations, or individuals. 

d. Authority to appoint committees from its membership and from 

outside. 

e. Authority to appoint ex officio members. 

f. Procedures for convening and conducting meetings. 

14

_Ceating an interstate Board 

1. Evaluate the regional earthquake risk as well as the risk management, 

recovery, and emergency planning needs. 

2. Identify representatives of appropriate state and local government and 

professions to plan the creation of the board. 

3. Identify funding sources. 

4. Decide the following: 

a. Whether to incorporate the coalition of member states or to set it up 

as a loosely structured association or partnership. 

b. Which professions and areas of expertise should be on the board? 

c. Which components will be incorporated into the vehicle creating a 

board. 

5. Each state must pass legislation authorizing its government to join the 

coalition and participate in its activities. 

6. Each state must submit -a petition to the United States Congress asking 

permission to create the coalition by interstate compact. 

7. Each state's legislature must ratify the compact. 

8. Select board members. 

9. Convene first meeting and formulate an earthquake risk management 

agenda. 

Such multi-jurisdictional, intrastate 

Confederation of Local boards can provide important direction

Governments for the planning and development for 

local and regional organizations and 

A seismic safety advisory board can be help advance the cause of seismic 

set up as a confederation of local safety. A board may be well suited for 

governments. As previously noted, local outreach to local private-sector 

governments have significant organizations, schools, and local 

earthquake responsibilities. Moreover, governments, including special purpose 

the earthquake-related issues for local districts. Moreover, such a board can be 

government may require a more hands- a useful adjunct to either a state or 

on approach differing from those of multi-state coalition board. 

other levels of government. Local Typically, an advisory board set up agencies must be heavily involved in 

as a confederation of local governments preventive actions related to buildings will become a legally authorized entity and land-use planning as well as 

immediate on-the-scene response to by state legislation. Like a state board, 

enabling legislation provides it with a earthquakes. This fact, coupled with legislative mandate that defines its America's strong local home-rule 

powers and duties. Although an ad hoc tradition, suggests that multi- committee or association of local jurisdictional, intrastate advisory boards governmental officials is the quickest 

can provide important direction in the 

way to establish a board that represents planning of local governments and 

a confederation of local governments or local business organizations. functions as an advisory board to a 

Single- or limited-purpose regional state-level agency, creation by organizations are increasingly legislation may have the same 

important in many metropolitan areas. overriding advantages noted earlier 

15

with regard to state boards. In meeting with the print and broadcast news 

common seismic safety needs, local media. 

governments may find it advisable to o Establish an information resource 

center with appropriate earthquake- include at least some of the following 

components in the legislation or the related educational materials. 

bylaws: * Establish of an overview body to assess 

the impact of damaging earthquakes, * Prepare model plans, draft legislation, recommend appropriate actions, and and model policies on land use, monitor progress. zoning, building codes, 

redevelopment, and new community * Develop local mutual assistance 

development. agreements. 

* Develop local outreach programs for * Develop plans and procedures to 

reestablish governmental services and private-sector organizations, schools, business services after earthquakes. other local governments, and special 

purpose districts, including public * Coordinate activities with risk 

information and cooperative programs management, emergency service 

providers, and local governments. 

Creating a Local Government Board 

1. Evaluate local earthquake risk and risk management needs. 

2. Identify representatives of local government, the professions, higher 

education, the business and legal communities, and volunteer 

organizations to formulate a plan for initiating the board. 

3. Identify funding sources. 

4. Decide the following: 

a. Should the board be incorporated? 

b. Which professions and areas of expertise should be on the board? 

c. What scope and powers should the board be given? 

5. Each participating local government must draft and enact an ordinance 

authorizing membership in the consortium. 

6. If appropriate, draft and enact state-level legislation authorizing the local 

governments to join and participate in the board's activities. 

7 Provide for the selection of board members. 

8. Provide for the board's first meeting and initiate work on a earthquake 

risk management agenda. 

Telecommunications, transportation, 

Creating a Private-Sector Board financial, and insurance businesses 

typically have state-of-the-art expertise Private-sector organizations can also in communications and data 

create a broad-based board to address transmission that are relevant to 

common concerns. The private sector mitigating earthquake-related damage has many of the resources needed for a to lifeline services. A private-sector viable board: in-house property and advisory board can use the pool of 

asset managers, risk managers and multi-disciplinary expertise to address safety departments, structural and civil common concerns or risks just as easily engineers, geologists, and individuals as a public-sector board. In areas where familiar with land-use and environ- the private sector lacks expertise, a mental regulation. private-sector board can invite 

16

academicians, earth scientists, or civil 

servants to volunteer their services. 

Even if governments do not 

establish a board, there are valid 

reasons for private-sector institutions to 

take the initiative in creating one. In a 

technologically complex and regionally 

interdependent economy like that of 

the United States, a damaging 

earthquake can cause a widespread 

disruption of commerce and crucial 

business support systems, including 

public utilities and transportation. 

Businesses in an earthquake-damaged 

area may be unable to manufacture 

vital components for goods assembled 

and sold in other regions of the 

country. Trading relationships may be 

severed and the financial markets 

affected. The insurance industry may 

need to liquidate assets to pay claims. 

A private-sector board would be able 

to recommend seismic safety goals, 

practices, and policies-not only within 

the business community, but for 

governmental consideration as well. 

Moreover, a properly constituted 

private-sector board would be able to 

monitor program implementation and 

evaluate effectiveness, while avoiding 

anti-trust-related allegations of 

collusion price fixing, or anticompetitiveness. 

Creating a private-sector board need 

not be complicated. Although the 

board could be a loosely structured 

association or ad hoc committee of 

concerned business people, it is usually 

preferable to organize it as a nonprofit 

corporation. (See the discussion of the 

incorporation of interstate coalitions 

for details.) Earthquake risk 

management is a long-term endeavor; 

the need for emergency planning and 

public information never ends. An 

incorporated board may provide the 

requisite continuity. Incorporation also 

confers a degree of autonomy, helping 

the board prepare a credible 

earthquake-related program for all or 

most participating businesses. 

Creating a Private-Sector Board 

1. Evaluate the private sector's regional earthquake risk and risk 

management needs. 

2. Identify representatives of businesses to formulate a plan for creation of a 

board. 

3. Decide the following: 

a. Should the board be incorporated? 

b. Which business and professions should be on the board? 

c. What should be the scope and powers of the board? 

4. Provide for selecting board members. 

S. Find a sponsor willing to provide physical facilities for the board. 

6. Provide for the board's first meeting and initiate work on an earthquake 

risk management agenda. 

17 
Section 4 

Selecting Advisory Board Members 

The methods and care used in selecting 

members are critical in shaping the nature and ensuring the success of the 

board. Every member should have a 

"can-do' attitude. The first step is 

deciding which professions and fields of 

expertise need to be included. 

Earthquake concerns cut across traditional disciplinary boundaries. A broad 

perspective on seismic safety is essential 

to help a seismic safety advisory board 

achieve a well-balanced program. The 

board might include representatives of 

earthquake-related governmental agencies and private-sector organizations, as 

well as experts in such fields as architecture, planning, fire protection, 

medicine, law, public utilities, insurance, finance, electrical engineering, 

mechanical engineering, structural 

engineering, geotechnical engineering, 

geology, seismology, education, 

emergency services, public policy, the 

media, contracting, and land 

development. 

Although an advisory board will not 

necessarily need representatives from 

each of these areas, the membership 

should be multi-disciplinary and well 

balanced (perhaps including a member 

representing the public at large) so that 

no one group or discipline dominates. 

Seismic safety policies should be formulated in consultation with the private 

sector. Including private representatives 

of the commercial and manufacturing 

sectors along with nonprofit scientific, 

educational, professional associations or 

foundations engaged in promoting seismic safety-and even the public at 

large-will prevent the development of 

organizational biases and procedures 

that may tend to insulate even the best 

organization from perceptive and innovative practices. Integration of the public and private sectors promotes the 

consistency in policy that is a must if a 

seismic safety advisory board is to 

benefit its constituency and ensure 

accountability. 

Selecting the Members 

Methods of selecting individuals to 

serve on the board can be critical in the 

board's success. Prospective members 

should be leaders in their fields, whose 

intellectual integrity is recognized by 

their peers and the organizations 

representing their professions. Equally 

important, nominees should be 

knowledgeable about earthquake risks 

and willing to devote substantial 

amounts of uncompensated time to the 

board's pursuit of seismic safety and 

hazard mitigation. Each member should 

be a "spark plug" who can create a 

sense of excitement and an abiding 

desire in his or her contemporaries to 

be a part of an organization that is, 

accomplishing something. 

Nominees must want to be on the 

board. At the very outset, they should 

be advised that board membership is a 

job, not an honor. Nominees should accept appointment to a seismic safety 

advisory board with the understanding 

that the position carries significant 

public service responsibilities. Members 

not only serve on the board itself but as 

ambassadors to their constituencies and 

other audiences, interpreting the mission of the board, defending it when it 

is under pressure, and representing it 

within their professional organizations 

and communities. They also must be 

sponsors of the board, assigning a high 

priority of their personal time and 

effort to the advisory board. In 

recruiting members, it is not unrealistic 

to ask them to accord as high a priority 

to the work of the board as they do to 

their efforts in their -ownprofessions. In 

addition to a commitment to the work 

of managing earthquake risks, they 

must also be able to work effectively in 
achieving a consensus with colleagues 

from other backgrounds. 

The relationship between the legislature and the board may be enhanced 

by requiring that the board's members 

be confirmed by the legislature and 

providing that the board's membership 

include one member from each house 

of the legislature. The legislators or 

their staffers (sitting as alternates) can 

provide the board access to the legislature's leadership and may facilitate the 

successful translation of seismic safety 

advice into public policy. 

It may be advisable to have 

members appointed by the chief elected 

executive and confirmed by the legislative branch of government. If the board 

is established as a state-level body, it 

will be helpful to include a member 

from each house of the legislature. 

How Many? 

Although Arkansas' 47-member seismic 

safety advisory board has proven to be 

quite effective, experience by other 

existing boards suggests that the 

number of board members is best kept 

to a manageable level-between nine 

and 19 members-if it is to be effective. 

The board should be just large enough 

to ensure participation by all elements 

of the private and public sectors with 

an interest in earthquake risk 

management, yet it should it not be so 

small as to be viewed as elitist or a 

special-interest clique. A semblance of 

parity should be maintained between 

the socioeconomic interests and the 

geotechnical and engineering interests 

represented on the advisory board. 

Inviting representatives of 

organizations and disciplines not 

represented on the board to serve on 

committees is a good way to involve 

these persons. 

The use of alternate members 

(except for legislators) should be limited, if not prohibited. The use of alternates creates an impediment to the development of the working relationships 

necessary for the board to develop a 

true consensus on issues and policies. 

Moreover, using alternates will deprive 

the board of preeminent expertise, the 

continuity and commitment its concept 

is based on and its effectiveness depends on. Effective advisory boards typically prohibit the designation of alternates by members. It should be clear 

that board members are personally responsible to the board for their performance. 

Term of Office 

The viability of a board and a seismic 

hazard mitigation program requires a 

broad consensus. The term of office for 

members of the board should be long 

enough to provide for continuity in the 

board's policies. Four years is probably a 

good starting point, with reappointment possible. Initially, it may be advisable to appoint one-half of the 

members to terms that expire two years 

after appointment and the remaining 

members, including the chair, to terms 

that expire four years after appointment. Such overlapping terms of office 

tend to promote continuity since the 

entire board would never change at one 

time. Any unexpected vacancies could 

be immediately filled by the appointing 

power for the unexpired part of the 

term. 

To prevent stagnation and forestall 

the growth of institutionalized views 

and procedures that can isolate even 

the best organization, the board may 

find it advisable to limit the terms of 

board members. An alternative to term 

limits may be for the appointing 

authority to evaluate a board member's 

performance when his or her term is 

completed. If a board member has 

performed effectively in terms of 

attendance, professional expertise, 

participation, and stewardship, then 

that member could be invited to serve 

further. In any event, the board's 

leaders must deal with poor 

performance. 

20 
Section 5 

Operations: Getting to Work 

Once the seismic safety advisory board 

is established, it will hold meetings and 

hearings to act on seismic safety issues 

and problems. It will also set up 

committees and subcommittees to 

address topics that cannot or should 

not be handled by the full group. This 

section contains advice on holding 

meetings and hearings as well as 

creating and managing committees and 

subcommittees. 

Planning Meetings 

Meetings are important events that 

need to be properly planned and 

staged. Regular meetings will be the 

board's primary means for members to 

communicate with each other, gather information, and work with others in 

the public and private sectors. Such 

meetings will be the principal way of 

integrating both lay and expert 

perspectives on seismic safety issues. 

Meetings can also be a device for 

promoting communication between 

state and local governments, 

professional design and geotechnical 

organizations, and the private sector. 

These meetings also will be a primary 

means for exchanging information 

with the news media by providing a 

platform for individuals who are 

interested in and knowledgeable about 

seismic safety to promote, discuss, and 

analyze seismic safety programs and 

policies. The board can publicize. 

meritorious seismic safety activities as 

well as inadequate ones. 

The board should meet a minimum 

number of times each year. Nine meetings is the recommended minimum. 

Otherwise, it will be difficult to foster 

communication among earthquake-related disciplines, establish priorities, 

and ensure reasonable progress in 

board activities. The board should conduct business in a public forum with a 

meeting structure that fosters a variety

of viewpoints and allows public comment. Agendas should be arranged so 

that presentations do not squeeze out 

discussion. Good meetings do not just happen. A concentrated effort is 

needed to plan and run meaningful 

and successful meetings.. Good meetings will attract and motivate good 

board members. 

Conducting Meetings 

Public participation allows members, of 

the public to listen to the deliberations 

of the board and provides an 

opportunity for public comment. 

Periodic meetings can provide a public 

forum to reward deserving individuals 

and seismic safety activities, expose 

earthquake-related problems, and 

pressure responsible agencies and 

entities to take necessary action. 

Meetings also allow board members to 

interact with their constituency-the 

public. 

To ensure the right of all interested 

parties to be heard, however, the board 

should be able to limit the time allowed for testimony on an issue or by 

an individual speaker. Despite the 

merits of public participation, the 

board should retain the right to exclude nonmembers who disrupt the 

normal progress of the meeting. 

Persons attending public meetings of a 

seismic safety advisory board should be 

permitted to record the proceedings on 

a video or audio recorder if done unobtrusively. The board also should be able 

to stop or prohibit such a recording if it 

disrupts proceedings. 

Advertising forthcoming meetings 

and encouraging interested parties to 

attend is a good way to reach the media and expand the board's constituency. In addition, legislation in 

many states and local jurisdictions re­
quires that the balance between public 

access and the protection of sensitive 

information be struck in favor of public 

access. It is recommended that all aspects of the decision-making processall discussion, debate, and information 

gathering-be conducted in public, 

open to scrutiny. Unscheduled or 

"informal" meetings in which a quorum of members "drop-in" should be 

avoided. Such meetings restrict the 

public's ability to observe the deliberative process and contribute to, or monitor, the board's decision-making process. 

A "meeting" should be considered 

to be any gathering of a quorum of the 

board, no matter how informal, if the 

board's business is discussed. However, 

this should not be construed to mean 

that board members should refrain 

from attending general conferences on 

issues directly or collaterally related to 

seismic safety. Such conferences, even 

if attended by a quorum of members, 

would not constitute a meeting so long 

as the members do not convene and 

discuss matters that are or may be before the board. When establishing 

meeting policies, consult the applicable 

open-meeting laws. 

The minutes of a board's meetings 

are valuable for informing interested 

parties as well as keeping a record of 

the proceedings. Widespread dissemination of minutes can serve to inform a 

broad constituency and encourage coordination. The minutes should be reviewed by the board and approved at 

the next meeting. The minutes should 

be kept on file and remain accessible as 

public record, as should any recordings. 

Publishing the Agenda 

To encourage public access and 

participation, the public must be given 

adequate notice of the time and place 

of the meetings as well as the topics to 

be discussed. This requires timely 

dissemination of an agenda containing 

a description of each item to be 

discussed and the time each item is 

scheduled to be heard. Every agenda 

for a regular meeting should include 

adequate time for the public to address 

the advisory board. Even if the state's 

open meeting laws do not specify a 

minimum number of days' notice for 

meetings, set a minimum of ten days' 

notice for any board meeting or 

hearing. 

Planning a meeting agenda is an 

important exercise. Include the entire 

board when discussing possible topics, 

witnesses, and meeting formats. Above 

all, the agenda must call for action to 

be taken at each meeting. Taking 

reasoned, informed action-doing 

something-at every meeting is the key 

to an advisory board's effectiveness and 

board members' participation. Board 

decisions should never become mere 

"rubber stamping" of its staff's work or 

the work of a committee. 

Closed Sessions 

Although the public should be able to 

observe the board's entire deliberative 

process, the need for candor, discussion, and information gathering will 

occasionally justify closed sessions. 

Closed sessions are typically justified 

for the following reasons: 

* Personnel matters that may cause 

undue publicity or embarrassment to 

public employees. Candid discussion 

of personnel matters may require 

closed meetings. 

* Pending litigation and matters that are 

within the attorney-client privilege. 

* Labor negotiations. 

* National and public security matters. 

The meeting agenda should 

indicate a closed session and give the 

reason for it. An accurate record of the 

proceedings at a closed session is a 

must, including confidential 

discussions and debates. The record 

should be kept confidential and made 

accessible only to the board itself or a 

court in connection with litigation. It 

should not be considered a public 

record. However, decisions (even rollcall votes) should be made public. 

22 
Hearings and Investigations 

It is critical that seismic safety advisory 

boards conduct hearings to identify, 

investigate, study, or evaluate earthquake-related issues or problems and 

showcase noteworthy actions or events 

furthering seismic safety. Such hearings 

can provide for communicating among 

state and local governments, professional design and earth sciences orga­ nizations, and the private sector. That 

knowledge and increased public awareness can lead to expedited seismic risk 

management. Public hearings also afford an opportunity for both publicand private-sector organizations to present testimony on seismic safety issues, 

providing the focus necessary to pull 

and expedite remedial action. The 

evaluation process would typically include submission of reports by those 

involved, public hearings, and preparation of a report by the board for 

submission to the governor, the legislature, or both. Such a report would typically include a number of recommendations for certain agencies the legislature and governor to follow to achieve 

an adequate degree of seismic safety. 

Committees 

The board should be empowered to 

appoint committees from its 

membership and from interested public 

and private groups. Such advisory 

committees can provide it with a broad 

base of representation and fresh ideas. 

State and local 

representatives of 

disciplines such as 

OULD NOT science and 

E MULTI- engineering,

emergency response, 

'ATURE OF and governmental 

SO LATIN G administration, drawn from both the 

things together 

and arrive at 

consensus. 

When a 

public agency is 

the subject of 

board hearings, 

the focus 

should be to 

assist it in 

addressing its 

seismic safety 

concerns, not 

COMMITTEES SH 

FRAGMENT' rH 

DISCIPLINAR3 N 

THE BOARD B Y I 

ANY ONE SUBJ1EC'r OR ISSUE. 

embarrassing it. The hearing process 

should include the submission of 

concise reports, public comments at 

the hearing, board discussion, and 

preparation of a report on the findings. 

Such a report should not only evaluate 

the agency's seismic safety performance 

but also include the board's 

recommendations for improvement or 

compliance. 

It is also important that a board be 

empowered to investigate any earthquake or any issue affecting seismic 

safety. As an example, a state-level 

board might be directed to determine 

what policy changes should be imple­ mented by governmental agencies 

how seismic safety programs have 

worked or not worked, and recommend 

legislation to ameliorate weaknesses 

public and the 

private sectors can 

integrate their fields 

of expertise into a 

comprehensive seismic risk 

management program. 

A chair who is willing and able to 

give strong leadership is essential to a 

committee's effectiveness and punctuality in meeting deadlines. Choice of 

the chair is thus an important decision, 

along with selection of other members 

who can be counted on to contribute 

to deliberations. 

Initially, much of a board's work 

may be performed by committee members with interests in specific topics or 

concerns. Because of their expertise, 

members will almost certainly be busy 

with other professional commitments; 

therefore, it is imperative to use their 

time and expertise efficiently. However, 

if a board's responsibilities expand, it 

may become apparent that committee 

23 
members cannot be asked to give spe- on the earthquakes and related 

cific issues or programs the time and ef- geological hazards. 

fort that may be required. In such a * Structural Vulnerability Committee-The 

case, adequate staff may have to be committee can review the existing 

added to the board. (See Section 6 for building and infrastructure codes and 

information on staffing.) enforcement and recommend 

improvements. At the outset, the board may find it * Emergency PlanningCommittee-This advisable to form ad hoc committees to committee would recommend and address issues that the board deter- review plans to marshal human, mines must be accorded the highest physical, and economic resources to 

priority. These committees can write minimize losses after an earthquake publications on key seismic risk reduc- and facilitate restoration of the normal 

tion topics. By focusing on narrow top- life of the board's region. The 

ics or issues, committee members can committee' would recommend preefficiently translate their knowledge earthquake measures to help minimize 

and expertise into usable information human and material losses attending 

and effective government policy. This an earthquake. 

advice can be capsulated into policy * Post-EarthquakeRecovery Committeereports and, if appropriate, draft legis- This committee would be responsible

for recommending contingency lation. Committees' activities should measures to guide the long-term work not fragment the board by isolating of recovery, reconstruction, relocation, 

any one subject or issue; the integra- and redevelopment. Such plans should tion of earthquake-related disciplines include variable courses of action 

and issues must be preserved. based on the earthquake's location, 

Committees' products can be subjected duration, intensity, the soil 

to public hearings to gather perspec- conditions, and resulting damage. 

tives and to give them greater visibility * Land-UsePlanningCommittee-This 

and media coverage. committee would describe the limits 

An alternative is for the board to es- that should be placed on the use of 

land subject to seismic hazards so that tablish standing committees to coordi- it is designated appropriately in state nate the technical expertise available to and local land-use plans. the advisory board and translate their * Local Government Committee-This advice into policy recommendations. committee would study the needs of These are some of the more obvious local government to determine how 

standing committees, their makeup, the plans formulated by other comand their responsibilities: mittees to reduce risk may be best put 

Executive Committee-Board operations into effect. It would recommend 

require that decisions be made in changes to policies and practices to 

between board meetings. They also help local government exercise the 

raise a host of administrative matters authority to manage earthquake risks 

which, although they do not merit the effectively. It would also recommend 

time of the full board, should be new governmental institutions as 

considered by more that the chair or necessary. 

staff director. Creating an executive * EarthquakeAwareness Committee-This 

committee to assist the board's chair, committee would devise and promote executive director, or program programs that will keep the issue of 

manager in formulating policy and earthquake safety and hazard reducprocedures for the day-to-day tion in the public eye. 

management of the advisory board * EarthquakePrediction Committee-This 

and its staff is recommended. committee would devise and promote 

* Seismic Hazards Committee-This programs that will focus on the issue 

committee can review available of earthquake warnings, advisories, 

scientific and engineering knowledge and alert levels. 

24

Typically, much of the seismic safety 

advisory board's initial work will be 

performed by board and committee 

members, drawing on their experience 

and expertise and providing their own 

support. As the board's responsibilities 

expand, however, members will 

probably no longer be able to provide 

the time and effort that may be 

required. The efficiency of a board 

made up of high-level, successful 

people requires support. Adequate staff 

support may have to be added. 

The board will require both 

administrative and technical support. 

Beyond the obvious need to make 

meeting arrangements, do 

correspondence, reports, keep financial 

records, and so on, the board's 

planning effort should determine 

which avenues of expertise are needed 

and which staff positions are required. 

This section will provide suggestions 

about staffing a seismic safety advisory 

board and using personnel effectively. 

Appendix F contains model duty 

statements for the positions described. 

Staff and Director 

Staff work can be done by employees 

from supportive state or federal 

agencies, by college-level interns, or 

volunteers. If funds are available, 

contractors may be a good way to 

provide staff and retain flexibility. 

A board will probably need to hire a 

director to plan, direct, and organize 

administrative matters related to the 

board's functions and responsibilities. 

These responsibilities would include 

hiring and supervising other staff and 

managing the board's office. The 

director would prepare grant proposals, 

and administer the budget. 

The director can also assist the 

board in searching for qualified 

personnel to serve on committees and 

Section 6 

Staffing the Board


for ex officio members. The director 

would be a primary contact with the 

public, media, governme ntal officials., 

and other entities. The director also 

will need to maintain contact with 

decision makers in the public and 

private sectors. The director will 

oversee the preparation and publication of reports and dissemination of 

information pertaining to the board's 

work. 

Probably most important, the 

director must be able to coordinate the 

day-to-day activities with those of 

other agencies with the intent of 

providing the leadership and 

coordination of public and private 

efforts necessary to attain highler levels 

of seismic risk management. These 

responsibilities will include meeting 

with and advising directors and 

officials of other state agencies as well 

as maintaining working relationships 

with other public or private 

organizations to further an effective 

seismic safety program. 

Technical and Professional Staff 

The mix of personnel needed on staff 

will depend on a board's strategic and 

risk management plans, the issues and 

tasks given highest priority, and the 

groups and entities that will be 

involved. The board does not need a 

large bureaucracy to function 

effectively. Some professional staff will, 

however, probably be essential. The 

need for staff positions must be 

documented and ustified in terms of 

the work to be performed to maintain 

financial support. 

The board's staff will gather 

information, support the work of 

committees, help draft reports, and 

assist in disseminating ideas. This may 

mean taking technical data from 

scientists and engineers and translating 
it into easily understood and usable 

policy information. Therefore, staff 

members not only need to be 

conversant with specialized disciplines, 

but must also be generalists who can 

bridge between the technical 

community and policy makers. They 

will need strong writing and speaking 

skills and credibility among their peers. 

Preferably, staff members will have 

developed networks within their 

professions. 

Because of the multi-disciplinary 

nature of a board's work, it will require 

the assistance of skilled professionals in 

a number of areas. If the board's fiscal 

and organizational means are limited, 

it may be necessary to rely on the 

technical and professional resources of 

other public-sector agencies or those 

donated by the private sector. This may require full-time staffers to perform 

more than one of these functions or 

outside professionals to perform such 

work. 

Particularly at the outset, staff 

members may need to be generalists 

who can deal with the myriad issues 

associated with the board's start-up.

However, the board may require 

assistance of the following professional 

and technical personnel: 

0 Legal counsel 0 Engineering geologist 

Structural engineer 0 

Architect 0 

Legislative specialist 0 

Emergency response specialist 

0 Recovery specialist 

Public information officer 0 Research writer and editor 0 Land-use planner 0 Budget/financial analyst 0 Grant writer 

Support Staff 

The board will need support staff to 

provide secretarial support for the 

board and the staff. Tasks include 

arranging meetings, responding to 

routine inquiries, handling 

correspondence, completing travel 

claims, making travel arrangements, 

and dealing with other fiscal and 

administrative matters. 

The support staff would also be 

responsible for screening calls and 

visitors, keeping appointment 

schedules, and referring calls to 

appropriate staff members or advisory 

panel members. The support staff may include, if the staff is large enough, an 

office manager responsible for 

supervising the support staff. 

Another support staff duty is taking 

and transcribing the minutes of 

meetings and hearings as well as 

assisting with arrangements for locations, organizing and assembling 

meeting materials including agendas, 

minutes, reports, and background 

information for mailing. The support 

staff would typically make quorum 

checks and report advisory board 

members' attendance at meetings. 

26 
Section 7 

Footing the Bill: Funding a Board 

Who should foot the bill, and how 

should it be paid? Should the public in 

general assume major responsibility through federal, state, and local 

governments. Should the owners of 

properties benefiting from seismic 

safety programs contribute? Should the 

costs be met in other ways? These are 

legitimate questions that need to be 

dealt with. 

Initially, the seismic safety advisory board should secure funding for its 

establishment and operating expenses 

and thereafter acquire funding for its 

earthquake risk management activities. 

Because public funds always seem to be 

in short supply, seismic safety should 

be recognized as a public priority so 

that sufficient funds, can be allocated 

and standby devices employed to help raise additional money as needed. 

Equity would suggest that costs 

generally be prorated among those 

benefiting. Sometimes the public as a 

whole should pay the bill, sometimes 

the user or owner of the property 

should bear the main financial burden 

for seismic safety, and sometimes the 

costs should be shared. 

Earthquake dangers are seldom 

immediately threatening-until an 

earthquake strikes. As long as things remain quiet seismically, public and 

private motivations focus on more 

immediate problems. Nevertheless, 

progress can be made, given a strong commitment, sustained effort, and a 

realistic plan for financing what needs 

to be done. 

Federal Funds 

'One avenue of financing is grants or 

federal matching funds from agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Although state and 

local governments often have to 

provide a certain amount of match 

money to secure federal funding, matching funds can substantially defray the cost of establishing and 

operating a board. 

Typically there are cost-sharing requirements as a condition of 

receiving such funds. The most current 

regulations will always be found in the 

-Code of Federal Regulations (44 CFR 

361). 

State General Funds 

If a seismic safety advisory board is a 

governmental entity, fairness may dictate paying the costs of its 

operations and risk management 

activities benefiting the general public 

out of government's general fund. In 

this age of great mobility, virtually 

everyone is at some time in earthquake-prone territory or economically dependent on the survival and normal 

functioning of communities that are 

either located in earthquake areas or 

vulnerable to damage to transportation, power and other lifeline 

systems that traverse earthquake-prone 

areas. 

Inasmuch as the public will benefit 

directly and demonstrably from the 

board's operations, financial support from general fund sources is justified and should be pursued. Moreover, if 

state government requires local 

governments to establish seismic risk 

management programs economic 

necessity may dictate that at least a 

portion of their costs be met from the 

state's general fund. 

Special Assessments 

An alternative way to finance a board's 

activities is to assess a fee or surcharge 

on regulated activities that will benefit 

from the board's operations. This 

would shift a portion of the cost of the 
board to property owners and facility 

users. Devices to generate funding can 

use an existing collection mechanism, 

and should not be so burdensome as to 

provoke a public outcry. For example, a 

surcharge of less than a dollar on an 

existing collection mechanism, such as 

building permits could finance the 

portion of the board's staffing and 

operations costs focusing on 

potentially hazardous buildings. 

Surcharges, seismic safety assessments, or fees might be set on a sliding 

scale. Projects involving greater seismic 

risks would contribute more. It should 

be noted, however, that special 

assessments, surcharges, and fees could, 

if necessary, be partially offset by 

general tax funds, inasmuch as the 

public benefits from measures that will 

reduce the loss of life, the number of 

injuries, and economic disruption. 

Some of the earthquake-related 

regulatory activities that could be 

subjected to a seismic safety 

assessment, fee, or surcharge might 

include the following: 

Occupancy and Use Permits-Depending 

on the size and composition of an 

area's building stock, a very small 

surcharge levied on all properties 

considered potentially hazardous at 

the time of transfer, change in 

occupancy or permitted use, or 

renewal of licensed use can generate 

enough revenue to staff and operate 

an effective board. Afee could be 

charged on admission prices to places 

of public assembly to support the 

board's activities related to reducing 

seismic hazards in places that have a 

high potential for deaths or injuries in 

an earthquake. 

o BuildingPermits-A very small 

assessment, surcharge, or fee could be 

absorbed as a part of costs for each 

building permit (commercial or 

residential). 

* Special Fees in EarthquakeHazard 

Zones-A board's hazard-reduction 

activities will have broad benefits to 

the public as a whole, justifying 

special fees or surcharges on all new 

subdivisions or buildings planned for 

property within designated earthquake 

hazard zones. 

* Utilities-A seismic safety fee of only 

pennies on utility bills (telephone, 

energy, water, or sewer service) to pay 

for hazard-reduction activities for 

these lifelines seems justifiable. 

Bond Issues 

State and local governments typically 

use general obligation bonds and 

revenue bonds to make long-term 

capital improvements in buildings, 

highways, and other elements of their 

infrastructure. Although bond 

measures are not generally used to fund 

the day-to-day operations of 

governmental agencies, a board should 

attempt to acquire an allocation of a 

very small percentage (typically less 

than 2 percent) of any bond fund 

proposal to ensure that the projects 

funded with bond money incorporate 

seismic safety concerns. The suggested 

allocation would enable the board to 

evaluate and monitor the seismic safety 

of bond-financed programs. 

Other Sources 

A seismic safety advisory board should 

have the authority to accept grants, 

contributions, and appropriations from 

other public agencies, private 

foundations, or individuals to finance 

its staff and operations. Corporate 

grants have been made to existing 

boards and should not be overlooked as 

a source of funding. To facilitate use of 

these funds, the board should be 

empowered to enter into interagency 

agreements and contracts to act 

cooperatively with other governmental 

agencies, private scientific, educational, 

or professional associations, or 

foundations engaged in promoting 

seismic safety. 

An alternative to cash funding 

might be contribution of in-kind 

services, such as legal, engineering, or 

other professional services. Needed 

equipment may be available from 

surplus equipment stores. Airlines may 

28 
be willing to contribute tickets for 

some activities. 

An advisory board's work is 

valuable. Publications can be sold at a 

reasonable price to recoup costs and 

possibly generate a modest surplus to 

pay for reprinting, for example. 

Training courses and conferences can 

be financed by registration fees. 

What the board lacks in funding 

can be made up for with creativity and 

innovation. One goal might be to 

leverage a variety of funding sources.. 

One existing board strives to match 

every dollar of government money

with private-sector money. 

29 
Section 7 

Footing the Bill: Funding a Board 

Who should foot the bill, and how 

should it be paid? Should the public in 

general assume major responsibility through federal, state, and local 

governments. Should the owners of 

properties benefiting from seismic 

safety programs contribute? Should the 

costs be met in other ways? These are 

legitimate questions that need to be 

dealt with. 

Initially, the seismic safety advisory board should secure funding for its 

establishment and operating expenses 

and thereafter acquire funding for its 

earthquake risk management activities. 

Because public funds always seem to be 

in short supply, seismic safety should 

be recognized as a public priority so 

that sufficient funds, can be allocated 

and standby devices employed to help raise additional money as needed. 

Equity would suggest that costs 

generally be prorated among those 

benefiting. Sometimes the public as a 

whole should pay the bill, sometimes 

the user or owner of the property 

should bear the main financial burden 

for seismic safety, and sometimes the 

costs should be shared. 

Earthquake dangers are seldom 

immediately threatening-until an 

earthquake strikes. As long as things remain quiet seismically, public and 

private motivations focus on more 

immediate problems. Nevertheless, 

progress can be made, given a strong commitment, sustained effort, and a 

realistic plan for financing what needs 

to be done. 

Federal Funds 

'One avenue of financing is grants or 

federal matching funds from agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Although state and 

local governments often have to 

provide a certain amount of match 

money to secure federal funding, matching funds can substantially defray the cost of establishing and 

operating a board. 

Typically there are cost-sharing requirements as a condition of 

receiving such funds. The most current 

regulations will always be found in the 

-Code of Federal Regulations (44 CFR 

361). 

State General Funds 

If a seismic safety advisory board is a 

governmental entity, fairness may dictate paying the costs of its 

operations and risk management 

activities benefiting the general public 

out of government's general fund. In 

this age of great mobility, virtually 

everyone is at some time in earthquake-prone territory or economically dependent on the survival and normal 

functioning of communities that are 

either located in earthquake areas or 

vulnerable to damage to transportation, power and other lifeline 

systems that traverse earthquake-prone 

areas. 

Inasmuch as the public will benefit 

directly and demonstrably from the 

board's operations, financial support from general fund sources is justified and should be pursued. Moreover, if 

state government requires local 

governments to establish seismic risk 

management programs economic 

necessity may dictate that at least a 

portion of their costs be met from the 

state's general fund. 

Special Assessments 

An alternative way to finance a board's 

activities is to assess a fee or surcharge 

on regulated activities that will benefit 

from the board's operations. This 

would shift a portion of the cost of the 
board to property owners and facility 

users. Devices to generate funding can 

use an existing collection mechanism, 

and should not be so burdensome as to 

provoke a public outcry. For example, a 

surcharge of less than a dollar on an 

existing collection mechanism, such as 

building permits could finance the 

portion of the board's staffing and 

operations costs focusing on 

potentially hazardous buildings. 

Surcharges, seismic safety assessments, or fees might be set on a sliding 

scale. Projects involving greater seismic 

risks would contribute more. It should 

be noted, however, that special 

assessments, surcharges, and fees could, 

if necessary, be partially offset by 

general tax funds, inasmuch as the 

public benefits from measures that will 

reduce the loss of life, the number of 

injuries, and economic disruption. 

Some of the earthquake-related 

regulatory activities that could be 

subjected to a seismic safety 

assessment, fee, or surcharge might 

include the following: 

Occupancy and Use Permits-Depending 

on the size and composition of an 

area's building stock, a very small 

surcharge levied on all properties 

considered potentially hazardous at 

the time of transfer, change in 

occupancy or permitted use, or 

renewal of licensed use can generate 

enough revenue to staff and operate 

an effective board. Afee could be 

charged on admission prices to places 

of public assembly to support the 

board's activities related to reducing 

seismic hazards in places that have a 

high potential for deaths or injuries in 

an earthquake. 

o BuildingPermits-A very small 

assessment, surcharge, or fee could be 

absorbed as a part of costs for each 

building permit (commercial or 

residential). 

* Special Fees in EarthquakeHazard 

Zones-A board's hazard-reduction 

activities will have broad benefits to 

the public as a whole, justifying 

special fees or surcharges on all new 

subdivisions or buildings planned for 

property within designated earthquake 

hazard zones. 

* Utilities-A seismic safety fee of only 

pennies on utility bills (telephone, 

energy, water, or sewer service) to pay 

for hazard-reduction activities for 

these lifelines seems justifiable. 

Bond Issues 

State and local governments typically 

use general obligation bonds and 

revenue bonds to make long-term 

capital improvements in buildings, 

highways, and other elements of their 

infrastructure. Although bond 

measures are not generally used to fund 

the day-to-day operations of 

governmental agencies, a board should 

attempt to acquire an allocation of a 

very small percentage (typically less 

than 2 percent) of any bond fund 

proposal to ensure that the projects 

funded with bond money incorporate 

seismic safety concerns. The suggested 

allocation would enable the board to 

evaluate and monitor the seismic safety 

of bond-financed programs. 

Other Sources 

A seismic safety advisory board should 

have the authority to accept grants, 

contributions, and appropriations from 

other public agencies, private 

foundations, or individuals to finance 

its staff and operations. Corporate 

grants have been made to existing 

boards and should not be overlooked as 

a source of funding. To facilitate use of 

these funds, the board should be 

empowered to enter into interagency 

agreements and contracts to act 

cooperatively with other governmental 

agencies, private scientific, educational, 

or professional associations, or 

foundations engaged in promoting 

seismic safety. 

An alternative to cash funding 

might be contribution of in-kind 

services, such as legal, engineering, or 

other professional services. Needed 

equipment may be available from 

surplus equipment stores. Airlines may 

28 
be willing to contribute tickets for 

some activities. 

An advisory board's work is 

valuable. Publications can be sold at a 

reasonable price to recoup costs and 

possibly generate a modest surplus to 

pay for reprinting, for example. 

Training courses and conferences can 

be financed by registration fees. 

What the board lacks in funding 

can be made up for with creativity and 

innovation. One goal might be to 

leverage a variety of funding sources.. 

One existing board strives to match 

every dollar of government money

with private-sector money. 

29 
Section 8 

Strategic Planning: The Long View 

Strategic planniing is the process ofdefining the direction for an organization so it can reach its goal. Strategic 

planning is planning for the long haul. 

More specifically, strategic planning 

means identifying the board's mission, 

goals, and objectives and then devising 

policies and strategies to achieve those 

ends. Strategic planning will allow the 

board to anticipate the probable impact 

of its decisions on its constituency and 

to prepare a more detailed plan that 

specifies tasks, responsibilities, schedules, and costs for the endeavors to be 

pursued. Even though the mission and 

goals will not 

change much 

over time, 

strategic 

planningPRCSISAI

should include 

a formal 

evaluation and 

revision process 

to keep the 

THE STRATEGI 

PROCESS IS AS I 

THE PLAN 

The first phase is information collection-the collection of information 

and opinions from board members and 

others who are essential to earthquake 

risk reduction and management efforts. 

Because perceptions will affect the program, they are as important as facts. 

The assessment must provide a current 

and comprehensive perspective of the 

state's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and obstacles. The information 

obtained in this phase will be the 

foundation of the strategic plan. 

The second phase is the evaluation 

and integration of the information 

C[I PLANNING 

MT~ IORTANT AS

II 'SELF. 

collected. The information is presented 

and discussed in an 

open forum. A workshop or series of workshops involving the stakeholders and 

decision makers 

should be held to 

consider the 

objectives and activities current. 

The strategic plan will serve as a 

"road map" for setting priorities, 

guiding decisions, and assessing 

progress in lowering seismic risk. This 

section describes a three-phase strategic 

planning process in the context of a 

statewide constituency; however, it is 

also fully applicable to a multi-state, 

local, or private-sector constituency. 

The Process 

The strategic planning process is as 

important as the plan itself. The 

process will result in the identification 

of "stakeholders" (persons who will be 

responsible for-or affected by-the 

resulting activities) and potential 

leaders for the cause of seismic safety. It 

can create open, collaborative channels 

of communication and lasting 

commitments. 

information gathered and chart a 

course of action. This collaborative 

exercise is a key element of strategic 

planning. 

Formulating the strategic policies is 

the third phase, in which the results of 

the workshop are melded to develop 

the long-range policy guidance needed 

for preparing a detailed, action-specific, 

shorter-term earthquake risk reduction 

and management plan. Not only 

should the strategic plan be adopted by 

the board, but a commitment is needed 

to refine, improve, and update the 

strategic plan periodically. 

Phase 1: Collecting In formation 

The objective of the information 

collection phase is to obtain a current 

and comnlprehensive assessment on the 

state's earthquake risk reduction and 
management needs and to identify or opposition to the board's programs 

stakeholders and leaders. and objectives. 

Crucial to the strategic planning The information should be 

process is identifying and interviewing collected on "issue statement" forms. 

stakeholders-individuals and entities Each completed form should include a 

with earthquake-related responsibilities brief description of the issue or idea, 

who have significant influence on supporting information, and 

seismic risk management efforts. recommended action. (Appendix G is 

Stakeholders may represent external an example of an issue statement.) 

sources (the private sector, the The information collected should 

legislature, local government) and be separated into four categories: internal sources (board members and * The state's strengths (to capitalize on), staff). The selection of stakeholders such as academic and professional must be balanced to ensure that no one resources offering expertise in earth 

group or discipline dominates. sciences and engineering, Stakeholders should include persons knowledgeable local government

with varied building officials, 

experience in and the resources 

academia, of emergency regovernment, THE INFORMA TION FROM sponse and and

and the private ITRIW recovery recovery organiPROVIDE' zations. zations. sector, and INTERVIEWS W.ILL ILL PROVIDE 

other THE ISSUES DIP3CUSSED ATAT 0. The state's

professionals, I weaknesses (to(to

strengthen), such such including THE WOR]KSHOP. - 11 -
__.'__A as untrained earth scien- building officials, tists, engi- out-of-date emerneers, emergency managers, mitigation gency response plans, and inventories 

specialists, and representatives of of vulnerable buildings and lifelines. 

human services agencies. * Opportunities(to exploit), such as 

The interview is used to obtain per- private-sector interest in building 

spectives on the board's earthquake-re- codes, recent seismic events, and 

lated needs and, if appropriate, on the pending redevelopment programs. 

board's past performance. Questions * Obstacles (to overcome), such as 

should relate to strengths, weaknesses, shrinking sources of funding, loss of 

leadership, competing interests or obstacles, and opportunities for orga- needs, public apathy, and lack of nizing existing conditions and pro- awareness. 

grams within the field as well as re- The information generated by this quired legal mandates. exercise will identify numerous issues 

In depth, face-to-face interviews by and provide an overall profile of the 

a strategic planner or other qualified topics to be considered during Phase II 

personnel are better than telephone at the workshop. Issues can be grouped interviews and written solicitations. into themes. Together they will provide The interviewer must elicit information an initial assessment of the current 

and perceptions about vulnerable situation. It should be stressed that the 

facilities and seismic hazards, the collection of information and the 

potential for managing the risk and needs assessment do not require an 

reducing vulnerability, and planning excessive expenditure of time or money for emergency response and recovery. for detailed studies; indeed, detailed The interviewer should seek to identify studies may be an element of the 

clients and interest groups, potential earthquake risk reduction and 

leaders, personnel and monetary 

resources, and other sources of support 

32

management plan discussed in the next 

chapter., 

Phase II: Evaluating and 

Integrating 

The purpose of the second phase is to 

assess the factual and perceived 

information and to agree on (and 

refine) a mission statement, goals and 

objectives, and prioritized action items. 

One two- or three-day off-site workshop or two or three one-day workshops are recommended as a way to 

deliberate, evaluate, and integrate information using a variety of participants. 

The workshop should explore basic 

assumptions, discuss desired outcomes, 

and consider potential timetables. 

Promising implementation strategies 

can be identified, along with processes 

for evaluating and measuring progress 

and making mid-course corrections. It 

is critical that proposed activities be 

realistic, given the current political 

climate and fiscal realities. In the end, a 

consensus should be reached regarding 

the board's overall mission and its 

fundamental goals and objectives. 

Workshop participants must to be 

selected carefully to include advisory 

board members, staff, and representative stakeholders who will influence or 

be responsible for the implementation 

of the strategic plan. If successful, the 

workshop will assist the board in solidifying its constituency, improving visibility, enhancing credibility and improving access to the expertise it will 

need to make its strategies effective. 

Since the number of persons attending 

the workshop must be kept to a manageable number, the selection process 

is important, and potential participants 

must be carefully screened. 

Each attendee should receive in 

advance a dear statement of the 

workshop's purpose and expectations 

to encourage participants to come well 

prepared. Highlights of the information 

collection phase should be summarized 

and distributed in brief issue statements prepared in a uniform format 

(see Appendix G). 

The first order of business at the 

workshop is to review objectives and 

expectations. Sufficient time should be 

allowed for participants to review all 

issue statements and to become comfortable with the process and each 

other. After the opening plenary 

session, participants should break into 

smaller working groups to discuss the 

results of the data collection phase. 

PHASE II SHOULD CONSIST 

OF EVALUATING BOTH 

INFORMATION AND 

PERCEPTIONS. 

IMPLEMENTING AND 

EVALUATING STRATEGIES 

CAN THEN BE IDENTIFIED. 

The issue statements prepared in 

Phase I identify what must be addressed. Those statements also facilitate 

the formulation of action items by the 

working groups. It may be helpful if 

the issue statements are kept to a 

manageable number and if redundant 

statements are consolidated without 

losing the intent behind them. Related 

statements should be grouped. For 

example, a dozen statements 

concerning schools could be 

consolidated into three school-related 

topics such as strengthening school 

buildings, mitigating nonstructural 

hazards, and educating teachers and 

students on appropriate earthquake response. 

Working groups can be assigned 

categories based on themes or issue 

statements. For example: 

* Vulnerable buildings 

• Societal vulnerability 

* Seismic hazard identification 

* Schools 

* Public awareness and constituency 

• Professional training 

* Emergency response planning and 

mutual aid 

33 
Effective working groups typically have 

at least three to five persons. The group 

selects a chair, a recorder, and 

spokesperson to present the group's 

reports to the plenary session. 

Working groups should consolidate 

the principal issues raised by the issue 

statements into proposed action items. 

Brainstorming (without criticizing or 

judging ideas) should be encouraged 

initially, followed by critical discussions. Action items are written up to 

summarize terms the following points: 

* Assumptions-The premise for 

proposing the action item. 

Assumptions set the parameters and 

limiting conditions, including legislative, contractual, policy

mandate, or other special 

considerations. 

* Objectives-The proposed outcome or 

result of the action item. The 

components of the objective are: 

1. An assignment of responsibility 

2. A statement of the results expected or the desired level of 

performance 

3. A schedule for performance 

* Implementation-Theresources and 

research required, the foundation to be 

laid to perform the task, obstacles to 

be overcome and the basic 

implementation strategy. 

* Rationale-The reasons underlying the 

working group's recommendations. 

* Consensus-The desired areas of 

agreement needed among organiza­ tions and constituents on policy issues. 

* Evaluation-Feedbackmechanisms to 

assure that the work is on the right 

track. 

Typical action items may include: 

* Drafting proposed legislation to 

address building standards 

* Creating voluntary programs to 

retrofit existing buildings and lifelines 

* Training design professionals in seismic principles 

* Improving quality control of new construction 

* Abating nonstructural hazards in 

schools 

* Supporting efforts to improve emergency response capability 

* Encouraging earthquake response exercises 

* Preparing recommendations (not regulations or mandates) for agencies with 

earthquake-related functions 

After the working groups have had 

time to complete most of their work, 

the workshop should reconvene in 

plenary session. The products of the 

working groups are presented and reviewed. All workshop participants 

should have an opportunity to evaluate 

and discuss the recommendations. The 

entire group needs to clarify assumptions, integrate the variety of activities 

proposed, and decide on priorities. 

After discussion, the entire group 

should have a complete list of items. 

Setting priorities is a critical step. 

The "nominal group technique" is one 

way to make decisions (see Figure 8-1 

for an overview of the technique). The 

nominal group technique is a form of 

brainstorming that allows all participants an equal voice in establishing 

the whole group's priorities and rankordered selection of ideas. It is well 

suited to collecting different types of 

information, converting that 

information into reasonably consistent 

measures, identifying where 

breakdowns occur, and designing an 

improved process. 

After workshop attendees discuss. 

and rank the action items, they will 

have an opportunity to write (or 

review) a mission statement. A mission 

statement is a succinct statement of the 

fundamental objectives of the 

organization. It should be brief enough 

to be easily understood and 

remembered, general enough to cover 

the scope of the organization's work, 

yet provide specific direction. A 

mission statement may include 

elements addressing who-the board is, 

what it is intended to do, and how it 

does it. This additional information, 

however, should not detract from the 

aim of being succinct and easily 

34 
understood. A possible mission 

statement is as follows: 

The [state] Seismic Safety Advisory 

Board's mission is to improve the wellbeing of the people of [state] through 

cost-effective measures that lower 

earthquake risks to life and property. 

Participants will also discuss and 

agree on long-term, fundamental goals. 

A goal is a statement of results to be 

achieved by the end of a period of 

time. Specific objectives or 

implementation strategies are 

identified and a process for evaluation 

(measuring progress. and making midcourse corrections) can be discussed. 

A sample workshop design, 

including a model agenda, is included 

in this manual as Appendix H. The 

design and agenda were adapted from 

an existing board's strategic planning 

session. The workshop will not result in 

a finished product. Follow-up work, 

including an opportunity for workshop 

participants to review their written 

products, will be necessary. 

PHASE III PULLS TOGETHER 

THE PRIORITIES AND 

STRATEGIES FOR 

IMPLEMENTING THE BOARD'S 

MISSION. 

Phase III: Deciding on Strategic 

Policies 

After the workshop the board can refine the priorities and establish strategies for managing actions and for developing a shorter-term earthquake risk 

reduction and management plan. In 

this phase the board's contractors, staff, 

or volunteers, first will need to compile 

and edit the workshop's results. A draft 

should be circulated to participants for 

comments before the board decides on 

the steps to take. After the review the 

board should formalize its mission 

statement, goals, objectives, and action 

items. The board will be faced with 

tough decisions when balancing its 

own resources with the "wishlist" that 

came from the workshop. 

THE BOARD MUST ESTABLISH 

A MECHANISM FOR FEEDBACK 

AND A WAY TO EVALUATE 

PROGRESS. 

The next step will be to work out 

the details for action items. These 

details include tasks, schedules, 

responsibilities, needed resources, and 

references. At this point the board can 

either prepare a work plan and begin 

work or develop a comprehensive 

earthquake risk reduction and 

management plan described in the 

next section. 

Conclusion 

A collaborative strategic planning process can prepare the conceptual framework of a risk reduction and management plan. This process gives participants an opportunity to exchange 

views on an interdisciplinary basis, 

build understanding and commitment 

among those who will play a key role 

in carrying it out, and take ownership 

of the issues and programs. The process 

can prevent one agency, discipline, or 

point of view from pursuing a narrow, 

isolated interest when other action 

items are given higher priority or otherwise must go first. By involving persons who can promote the needs of 

"users/]-who often are policy makers, 

school administrators, building users, 

design professionals, etc.-the mission 

and action items can focus on reducing 

and managing earthquake risk in more 

informed and effective ways. 

Although the results of a board's efforts will not be perfect the first time, it 

is a critical step toward focusing the resources of the organization. The board 

may find it best to follow the plan and 

then repeat the strategic planning process in six months or a year to refine 

and improve the results. 

35 
Figure 8-1-Overview of a technique for conducting a workshop 

The Nominal Group Technique 

The nominal group process can be conducted by using the action items as topics of discussion. The 

process consists of five steps. 1 

1. Problemstatement-The matter to be decided is stated, discussed, and agreed on. 

2. Quietperiod-Fiveminutes of silence is provided to allow participants to consider ideas 

and solutions. 

3. Round robin-Each participant responds, one at a time, by identifying each action item 

he or she feels is critical. If an action item merely restates another in slightly different 

terms, the two versions can be merged. This continues until all items are on flip charts 

for all to see. 

4. Bull session-Participants discuss issues to clarify, consolidate, edit, or eliminate them. 

Once the list is complete, participants should be encouraged to argue why they believe 

certain items are important. 

5. Prioritization-Theranking process recommended recognizes the difficulty in comparing 

and ranking disparate items. 

* Participant should pick the most important item and assign it the number that 

represents the total number of items being ranked. 

* The least important is given a "1." 

* Each person then selects the most important of those remaining and assigns it a 

score one less than before. 

* Then the least important of the remaining items is given a "2." 

* This process is repeated until arriving at the center. 

* Then the participants' rankings are collected, and the collective ranking for each 

action item is computed by adding. The action item with the highest total score is 

the one considered most important to the workshop participants. 

As an example, a group of five participants might consider the following five hypothetical action 

items, ranking them accordingly: 

Issues Ranking by Participants Total 

A. Seek funds to strengthen older hospitals 4 4 4 5 4 21 

B. Evaluate the seismic safety of school bldgs. 2 3 2 2 2 22 

C. Map all active faults 3 2 3 3 3 14 

D. Enforce special standards for new schools 5 5 5 4 5 24 

E. Do research on liquefaction 1 1 1 1 1 5 

In this example the safety of school buildings was awarded the highest overall score from the five 

participants, making it the issue accorded the highest priority by the participants. On the other hand, 

the liquefaction research, with a total score of 5, is accorded the lowest priority. 

1 R.C. Whiteley, The Customer-Driven Company: Moving from Talk to Action, Addison Wesley, 

1991, pp. 266-67. 

36 
Section 9 

Risk Reduction and Management Plan


Preparing and adopting a comprehensive, multi-year plan to guide risk 

reduction and management efforts is 

essential to long-term progress. A risk 

reduction and management plan will 

serve to keep the work needed in the 

public eye for the long-term and 

provide a means for measuring progress 

and maintaining focus. It should be 

built on the policy guidance developed 

through strategic planning and serve as 

a detailed, programmatic guide for 

what needs to be done and who should 

do it. 

The strategic planning process 

should produce a long-term mission 

statement and ,goals, a strategy for 

reaching those goals, and an initial 

orioritized set of concrete objectives 

and action items. The mission and 

goals will presumably not be changed 

often after they are formulated and 

approved. Much of the board's 

subsequent effort will carry out the 

strategy, revise it as necessary, 

implementing the initial action items, 

and develop new action items and 

priorities as experience warrants. The 

data collection and workshop phases 

provide information and perceptions 

regarding strengths, weaknesses, 

opportunities and obstacles for 

earthquake safety. The results are 

summarized, reviewed by workshop 

attendees, and then refined and 

adopted by the board. These materials, 

and the action items will serve as the 

foundation for writing and adopting a 

detailed programmatic plan-an 

earthquake risk reduction and 

management plan. 

This plan should seek to describe 

and implement action items to meet 

the goals and objectives in a way that is 

consistent with the strategy adopted by 

the board. It should be detailed and 

specific and may require gathering 

more data and involve persons and 

organizations that did not participate 

in the data collection or workshop 

deliberations. This chapter will describe 

the plan's contents, format, creation, 

and monitoring. 

Contents 

The earthquake risk reduction and 

management plan should be comprehensive. It should seek progress in a 

number of topical and geographic 

areas. For example, action items can 

call on geologists to identify hazards, 

for agencies to retrofit certain 

vulnerable buildings, and for 

emergency response agencies to 

improve and exercise response plans. 

The plan should include both risk 

reduction and risk management 

activities. For example, an owner may 

choose to strengthen a building to 

lessen the expected life loss (risk 

reduction) and purchase insurance and 

write a plan for business resumption to 

manage the remaining risk. The plan 

also should provide sequencing by 

calling certain action items to go before 

others. It may emphasize public 

awareness in one area and geologic 

mapping in another. A comprehensive 

plan will provide the "big picture so 

that numerous organizations can act 

both independent of and in 

coordination with each other when 

pursuing efforts with their own 

resources. 

A comprehensive plan is necessary 

because earthquakes differ from other 

hazards in a number of significant 

ways. Earthquake damage may be 

widespread, but also extremely 

variable. While many dozens of 

jurisdictions will be affected, each 

jurisdiction will have pockets of severe 

damage intermingled with areas 

without notable damage. Earthquakes 

affect the ability of a community to 
respond by damaging lifelines, 

infrastructure, and communications 

systems. 

Ground shaking triggers secondary 

natural hazards such as landslides, 

liquefaction and tsunamis and can 

damage structures whose failure can 

cause flooding or the release of 

hazardous materials. Emergency 

response planning and training are 

especially important because of the 

sudden and unpredictable nature of 

earthquakes as well as the potentially 

large number of damage incidents over 

a wide area and the disruption to 

normal communication. Carrying out a 

comprehensive plan will benefit 

communities in a variety of other ways 

in addition to improving its ability to 

withstand earthquakes. Emergency 

responders will be better prepared for 

incidents that are more frequent and 

isolated, and facilities will be better 

built and resist wind and geologic 

hazards as well as earthquakes. 

Format 

Developing the details for implementing the plan is essential to making 

progress. The plan can be built around 

individual action items or tasks. An 

action item is a self-contained activity 

or set of activities that is aimed at 

dealing with one seismic issue. They 

are essentially the same as the action 

items developed through strategic 

planning, but done in more detail. 

Each action item should state an 

objective, describe the problem and the 

expected outcome, identify the 

responsible parties, the amount and 

source of funding, the interim 

products, and a schedule for 

completion. 

Action items should recommend 

activities both for the government and 

private-sector organizations to focus on 

during the specified period. Experience 

has proven that it is most effective to 

include the following components: 

o Description of the issue-Each action 

item should explain the seismic safety 

issue that justifies use of a 

government's or private-sector 

institution's resources. 

* Statement of the objective-The action 

item should include an objective that 

explains what is to be accomplished, 

sets a date it should be completed, and 

identifies the agency responsible. 

* Milestones-Each action item should 

include a timeline for achievable steps 

to help measure progress. Where the 

problems addressed require extensive 

additional study, the initial estimates 

of time may be only best guesses. 

* Resources needed-The action item 

should include cost estimates. For 

some tasks, the estimates may be only

best guesses because the problems to 

be addressed by the task will require 

extensive study. In others, the 

resources needed will have been 

identified and in some cases be within 

the responsible agency's budget. 

* Responsible entities-Eachaction item 

must identify not only the lead agency 

responsible for the overall objective but also the participating agencies and 

organizations. The lead agency 

generally is responsible for 

coordinating the activities of the other 

agencies and organizations. In some 

instances the board may be the lead 

agency. Each action item should also 

designate an accountable individual 

who is ultimately responsible for the 

organization's participation and for 

the successful completion of the 

milestones. 

* Status-Each action item should state 

the status of its compliance with its 

implementation schedule or 

milestones that have been established 

for it. 

* References-The action item should 

provide references to any statutes, 

reports, or other materials that may be 

relevant to the issue. 

Figure 9-1 is an example of an action 

item taken from an existing board's 

earthquake risk reduction and 

management plan. 

38 
Figure 9-1-Sample action Item from a programmatic plan 

Action tem 

Clarify Hazard Mitigation Liability ssues 

Governmental actions dictating mitigated, or imposed on either local 

strengthening and mitigation of seismic governments or design professionals for 

hazards, as well as innovative methods of strengthening and mitigating seismic hazards 

maintaining the structural integrity and and the use of innovative methods of 

functionality of buildings during and maintaining the structural integrity and 

immediately after an earthquake, raise functionality of buildings during and 

legitimate concerns of tort liability in both immediately after an earthquake. 

the public and private sectors. 2. By September 1993, the Seismic Safety 

Buildings constructed to out-of-date Commission provides the legislature, the 

standards pose the greatest life-safety risk in governor, and local governments a report on 

an earthquake. Local governments have the the issue, inciud ing suggestions on how local 

authority and the responsibility to protect governments and de sign professionals may 

their populations from hazardous buildings. exercise their creativity and judgment 

Design professionals have the capability to without undue apprehension of incurring a 

design and construct buildings that maintain large tort liability judgment. 

their structural integrity during and 3. By January l994, the Seismic Safety 

immediately after an earthquake. Proper Commission after consultation with local 

building practices, retrofitting existing jurisdictions, the gover nor, the legislature, as 

buildings posing a high likelihood of collapse well as supporting and con cerned 

during seismic events, and innovative organizations and agencies, submits proposed 

structural designs and components in new legislation, if needed, to clarify the tort 

buildings will significantly reduce earthquake - liability concerns of local governments and 

related casualties. design professionals. 

The tort liability issue of whether one has 

met the legal standard of due care to a Resources Needed 

foreseeable plaintiff has inhibited innovation State: The Seismic Safety Commission will 

by those involved in the retrofitting of conduct the workshops, research, and 

potentially hazardous buildings, as well as the legislative advocacy with existing staff and 

development of seismically resistant new fiscal resources. 

buildings. Local governments and design 

professionals need a clearly defined legal Responsible Agencies 

benchmark to use when their professional Seismic Safety Commission (Tim Cronin, 

judgment calls for deviation from existing Staff Counsel) 

building codes in their efforts to mitigate State Bar of California (Larry Walsh, Director 

seismic hazards. of Real Property Section) 

California Trial Lawyers' Association (Nancy Objective Peverini, Associate Legislative Counsel) 

By December 1993, the Seismic Safety Association of Bay Area Governments (Ken 

Commission clarifies tort liability issues Moy, Attorney) 

affecting the mitigation of seismic hazards, County Supervisors Association of California 

including employing innovative methods to (Fred Keeley, Santa Cruz County Supervisor) 

maintain integrity and functionality of League of California Cities 

buildings during an earthquake and to what Structural Engineers Association of California 

extent they may be avoided, mitigated, or California Council/American Institute of 

imposed on either local governments or Architecture (Aimee Hall, Legislative 

design or construction professionals. Assistant) 

Earthquake Engineering Research Institute Milestones (Frank E. McClure, Structural Engineer) 

1. By December 1992, the Seismic Safety 

Commission convenes a workshop to clarify Status 

to what extent tort liability may be avoided, To be started. 

39 
Organization 

Organizing action items by related 

topics will make the plan easier to 

understand and monitor. The 

following categories are suggested: 

* Existing vulnerablefacilities-Action 

items that encourage reducing 

vulnerability in existing facilities and 

lifelines might consist of establishing 

seismic evaluation and retrofit 

standards for buildings, improving the 

seismic safety of public schools, 

publicly owned buildings, essential 

services buildings, and hospitals, as 

well as improving the performance of 

transportation and utility systems. 

* New facilities-Action items that 

encourage reducing vulnerability in 

new facilities and lifelines can include 

improving seismic standards for new 

construction, mapping geologic hazards, and establishing seismic 

design review policies. 

* Emergency management-Action items 

that encourage improvements in 

emergency management include 

improvements in emergency planning, 

communications equipment, training, 

mutual aid, emergency medical care, 

and shelter for earthquake victims. 

* Disasterrecovery-Action items that 

expedite the recovery process include 

providing post-event housing, estimating economic and governmental effects, and implementing recovery 

guidelines. 

* Research, public information, education, 

and legal support-Action items include 

implementing a research plan, providing legal analysis of issues, conducting 

public information campaigns, and 

developing an information resources 

center. Earthquake-related research, 

public information, and education can 

help achieve the risk reduction and 

management action items in all the 

other categories. 

Administration 

A plan should lay out an administrative 

and management framework, including: 

* Implementing actions-Describe actions 

the board will take to monitor, 

promote, and carryout the plan. 

* Annual work plan-Describe and 

summarize the milestones to be met 

during each calendar year. 

* Legislation-Describelegislation 

needed to enact parts of the plan. 

* Funding-Funding for some of the 

action items may come from the 

Federal Emergency Management 

Agency or another funding authority 

that uses a comprehensive coordinated 

agreement or similar agreement. The 

action item format should provide the 

information (task descriptions, 

deliverables, schedule, cost) needed to 

complete these agreements. 

Planning Process 

A seismic risk reduction and 

management plan will necessarily 

involve dozens of agenciesgovernmental, private sector, and 

volunteer. The public sector and local 

government ultimately have the 

principal responsibility for earthquake 

safety. Because success will depend on 

their support and active participation, 

all sectors should be considered 

important contributors. The process 

used by other boards can help.1 

An "open" planning process 

involving all stakeholders is strongly 

recommended. The process should seek 

the following: 

* Outside views on action items. Success 

of the plan will depend on organizations and information not available 

in the workshop. 

* A consensus about what needs to be 

done by whom and the priorities. 

* A commitment from responsible 

entities to implement each action item 

for which they are responsible. 

Starting with the guidance from 

strategic planning, the planning process should be methodical yet flexible 

1 L. T. Tobin, F. Turner, J. F. Goodfellow, 

and B. L. Stoner, "California at Risk: 

Where Do We Go from Here?," Earthquake 

Spectra, Vol. 8, No 1, 1992, p. 19. 

40 
and open in its involvement of parties 

interested in the outcome. Public involvement should be both informal 

and formal. Ample time mustlbe provided for interested individuals and organizations to review draft materials. 

Ample notice must be given before 

meetings and hearings. An open process will allow time to publicize actions, 

items so that elected officials, community leaders, professional organizations, 

and the media will understand what is 

needed and the priorities. 

The planning effort should aim to 

build a support and commitment by 

creating interest and understanding 

and a sense of ownership among the 

persons who will carry it out. Care 

should be taken to ensure that the plan 

does not even appear to be dictated 

from a higher legal or intellectual 

authority. It is more important to get a 

commitment from the persons who 

can make a difference in earthquake 

risk than it is to make the plan a stateof-the art document. 

Care should be taken to develop a 

mailing list of the stakeholders identified during the strategic planning process. Other professional organizations, 

government organizations, and privatesector agencies should be called to 

identify persons to represent their interests and report back. Draft plan materials should be provided these persons for review and comment. 

Workshops and open meetings 

can be held to air differences to 

facilitate interdisciplinary discussion, 

and to explore technical details and 

relationships in depth. 

Setting Priorities 

Even though strategic planning will 

have identified priorities, the board will 

have to revisit the issue once the 

detailed action items have been 

developed. Once a draft plan has taken 

shape, use the board's judgment and 

perspective to set priorities. Six criteria 

can be applied: 

41 

* Lives saved-The potential for saving 

lives and preventing injuries. 

* Damage reduction-Thepotential for 

reducing property damage and 

economic losses. 

* Socioeconomic continuity-The potential for reducing social and economic 

disruption. 

* Opportunity-The ease with,which the 

activity can be implemented and the 

degree to which it complements other 

activities (the opportunity to build and 

leverage resources of others through relatively small investments). 

* Cost-The probable cost of the 

activity. 

Take the time to review each action item to be certain it meets a 

(1common-sense test." Decision makers 

and the public should see it as being 

sensible, practical, and feasible. 

Moreover, unless the board has the 

wherewithal to do an action item, it 

should not be selected as a priority. 

Approval 

Before the plan is adopted, a formal 

public hearing should be held to be 

certain that organizations participate in 

an official capacity. The hearing 

process also fosters the official 

commitment of the organizations with 

the resources or legal authority to carry 

out the plan. Even though hearings are 

an opportunity to hear from those who 

disagree or who have new ideas, it is 

not a substitute for a careful open, 

review process. 

Promoting the Plan 

The board should commit itself to its 

plan by submitting it to the governor, 

legislature, and other organizations. 

Making the plan widely available will 

increase support and recognition for it, 

as well as for the board and the 

individual action items. 

Many people and agencies must 

cooperate to make earthquake safety a 

reality. Concerted efforts and oversight 

by the board can promote long-term 

progress toward improved seismic 
safety. The board can use reports, heair- 'regardless of whether schedules or 

ings, workshops, etc., to focus attenti on deadlines are met. 

on government and the private-secto r The board can use periodic public implementation measures that are hearings to assess progress. The needed. The board can sponsor leg- meeting format will serve to reward islation at the national, state, and loc.al those who are on or ahead of schedule 

levels. It can provide testimony to leE and encourage those who are behind. islative committees and city councils Anticipation of a hearing will serve to The board can invite leaders of varioi is encourage progress, even if it is at the 

organizations to meet with it-or sen d last minute. A periodic review can also representatives to meet with them. A ensure that items will not be forgotten plan that assigns responsibility for sp e- and that those that have fallen behind cific tasks to agencies and recommen ds will be revised. A hearing format can 

organizations will allow the board to also create media interest. Since coordinate and orchestrate the activi- external accountability is important, ties of the participants. the plan should include an annual 

report to the legislature and governor. Monitoring Progress Even if the plan is successfully 

A seismic risk reduction and man­ implemented, events beyond the

agement plan should include a board's control will create reasons for 

mechanism for monitoring, measurir revision. Periodic strategic planning, 

and evaluating its effectiveness in 19' described in the previous section, and

meeting its objectives. The foundatio n the results of the monitoring will 

for measuring progress is in each actii on identify new action items and revisions 

item and its milestones. Only detaile d needed to items. A comprehensive, 

milestones with reasonably achievabi e multi-year plan, prepared openly with 

dates can be reviewed. A multi-year the full involvement of affected 

plan should be reviewed and revised organizations and individuals will be a

yearly to allow for mid-course major asset in helping a state address 

corrections. Timetables should be set as ~ seismic safety. The plan should be a 

gauges for evaluating progress and living document that is promoted, 

opportunities for improvement, monitored, and revised continually. 

42

Appendix A 

Model Executive Order 

Executive Order 

No.-

Establishing_ _ Seim ic 

Safety Advisory Board 

earthquakes before and after they 

WHEREAS, many different agencies happen is firmly fixed with local 

at various levels of government have government, state government also has 

substantial responsibilities in the fields fundamental responsibilities to take all 

of earthquake emergency response and reasonable measures to reduce the 

recovery planning and seismic safety; seismic hazard to which the citizens of 

and are exposed; and 

WHEREAS, there is a pressing need WHEREAS, the state should assume 

to provide a consistent policy -aleadership role by influencing the 

framework and a means for direction of existing and future 

coordinating on a continuing basis the national earthquake hazard reduction 

earthquake-related programs of programs. and should serve as a model 

agencies at all governmental levels and for local hazard reduction measures; 

their relationships with elements of the and 

private sector involved in practices 

important to seismic safety; and WHEREAS, earthquake hazard 

reduction measures often benefit many 

WHEREAS, this need is not being state programs and bring about 

addressed by any continuing state improvements in buildings, dams, 

government organization; and transportation facilities, 

communications, fire safety, toxic 

WHEREAS, through conceited materials handling, and emergency 

efforts of broad scope, coordinated by a response preparations; 

Seismic Safety Advisory Board, longterm progress should be made toward NOW THEREFORE, I, [NAME3, 

higher levels of seismic safety; and Governor of the State of by 

virtue of the powers and authority WHEREAS, earthquakes have vested in me by the statutes and caused and can cause in the future 

enormous loss of life, injury, Constitution of the State of 

destruction of property, and economic ,do hereby issue this order 

and social disruption, and with respect to become effective immediately: 

to future earthquakes, that loss, injury, I. Establishment of a 

destruction, and disruption can be Seismic Safety Advisory Board to 

reduced substantially by developing provide policy, guidance, and 

and implementing earthquake hazards direction for the implementation reduction measures; and of a comprehensive earthquake 

risk reduction and management WHEREAS, while the major program consistent with state 

responsibility for dealing with organization responsibilities. 

A-l 
a. There is established a II. Duties and responsibilities of the 

Seismic Safety Seismic Safety 

Advisory Board, herein referred to Advisory Board. 

as the "board" a. The Board, in the discharge of its 

b. The purpose of the Board is to responsibilities, may do any of the 

coordinate, inform, advise and following: make recommendations. (1) Accept grants, contributions, 

c. The advisory Board shall consist and appropriations from 

of 15 members appointed by the public agencies, private 

Governor. The Seismic Safety foundations, or individuals. 

Advisory Board shall elect (2) Appoint committees from its 

annually from its membership its membership, appoint 

own chairman and vice chairman advisory committees from 

and may replace them with other interested public and private advisory board members by groups, and appoint ex officio majority vote. members who shall not be 

d. Advisory Board members shall be entitled to vote, to advise 

residents of the State of [name]. the Board. 

e. The membership of the Seismic (3) Contract for or employ any 

Safety Advisory Board shall be professional services and 

appointed by the Governor from research required by the 

lists of nominees submitted by Board or required for the 

professional organizations and performance of necessary 

associations as listed below: work and services which, in 

the Board's opinion, cannot (1) Four members appointed satisfactorily be performed from established organi- by its officers and employees zations in the fields of or by other federal, state, or architecture and planning, local governmental agencies. fire protection, public 

utilities, and electrical b. The Board is responsible for all of 

engineering and mechanical the following in connection with 

engineering; earthquake risk management: 

(2) Four members appointed (1) Setting goals and priorities in 

from established the public- and privateorganizations in the fields of sectors. 

structural engineering, (2) Requesting appropriate state 

geotechnical engineering, agencies to devise criteria to 

engineering geology, and promote earthquake and 

seismology; disaster safety. 

(3) Four members appointed (3) Recommending program 

from nominees submitted by changes to state agencies, the League of Cities and the local agencies, and the 

County Supervisors private sector where such 

Association; changes would improve 

(4) Three members appointed earthquake hazards and 

from established organi- reduction. 

zations in the fields of (4) Reviewing emergency 

insurance, social service, and response, recovery and 

emergency services; reconstruction efforts after 

damaging earthquakes. 

A-2 
(5) Gathering, analyzing, and and to advise the Governor 

disseminating information. and Legislature thereon. 

(6) Encouraging research. (2) Review legislative proposals} 

(7) Helping to coordinate the related to earthquake safety 

earthquake safety activities to advise the Governor and 

of government at all levels. Legislature concerning the 

(8) Establishing and proposals, and to propose 

maintaining necessary needed legislation. 

working relationships with (3) Recommend the addition, 

any boards, advisory boards, deletion, or changing of 

departments, and agencies, state agency standards when, 

or other public or private in the Board's view, the 

organizations. existing situation creates 

c. To implement the foregoing undue hazards or when new 

responsibilities, the Board may do developments would 

any of the following: promote earthquake hazard 

mitigation, and conduct 

(1) Review state budgets and public hearings as deemed review grant proposals, other necessary on the subjects. than those grant proposals 

submitted by institutions of (4) Recommend and sponsor 

legislation creating a state- post secondary education to level Seismic Safety Advisory the federal government, for Board as a permanent and earthquake related activities autonomous entity of state 

government t. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand 

and have caused the Great Seal of the State of 

to be affixed this day of 

,19 

Governor of the State of 

Attest: 

Secretary of State 

A-3

Appendix B 

Model Enabling Legislation 

§ 1000. Legislative Declaration continuing state government 

§ 1002. Seismic safety advisory organization. 

Third, through concerted efforts of board; creation; report broad scope, coordinated by a Seismic 

§ 1003. Members; appointment; Safety Advisory Board, long-term 

chairman; vice chairman; progress should be made toward higher 

quorum; public interest levels of seismic safety. 

§ 1004. Appointments to advisory Fourth, earthquakes have caused 

board and can cause in the future enormous ­

loss. of life, injury, destruction of § 1005. Term of office property, and economic and social 

§ 1006.. Per diem; expenses disruption. With respect to future 

§ 1007. Powers and Duties earthquakes, that loss, injury, 

destruction, and disruption can be § 1008. Executive director; reduced substantially by developing employees and implementing earthquake hazards 

§ 1009. Earthquake hazard reduction reduction measures, including, but not 

responsibilities limited to, the following: 

§ 1010. Establishment and objectives (1) Improving design and 

of the [Name] Earthquake construction methods and 

Hazard Reduction Program practices. 

§ 1011. Implementation of (2) Rehabilitating vulnerable 

earthquake hazard buildings. 

mitigation program (3) Coordinating emergency 

§ 1012. Consultation with other planning for response by the 

agencies and groups government and private 

§ 1013. Short Title sectors. 

(4), Implementing land use and 

§ 1000. Legislative Declaration redevelopment planning. 

The Legislature finds and declares as (5) Developing public 

information and education follows: 

First, many different agencies at programs. 

various levels of government have (6) Improving emergency 

substantial responsibilities in the fields response capabilities and 

of earthquake preparedness and seismic emergency management 

safety. systems. 

Second, there is a pressing need to (7) Developing long-term social 

provide a consistent policy framework and economic recovery and a means for coordinating on a strategies. continuing basis the earthquake-related (8) Upgrading the strong motion 

programs of agencies at all 

governmental levels and their instrumentation system. 

relationships with elements of the (9) Improving basic research of 

private sector involved in practices physical and social earthquake 

important to seismic safety. This need phenomena. 

is not being addressed by any Fifth, while the major responsibility 

for dealing with earthquakes before 

B-1 
and after they happen is firmly fixed 

with local government, state 

government also has fundamental 

responsibilities to take all reasonable 

measures to reduce the seismic risk to 

which the citizens of [name of state] 

are exposed. The state should assume a 

leadership role by influencing the 

direction of existing and future 

national earthquake risk reduction 

programs and should serve as a model 

for local risk reduction measures. 

Sixth, earthquake risk reduction 

measures often benefit many state 

programs and bring about 

improvements in buildings, dams, 

transportation facilities, 

communications, fire safety, toxic 

materials handling, and emergency 

response preparations. 

Seventh, it is not the purpose of 

this chapter to transfer to the advisory 

board the authorities and 

responsibilities now vested by law in 

state and local agencies. 

§ 1002. Seismic safety advisory 

board; creation; report 

There is created in the state 

government a Seismic Safety Advisory 

Board which shall report annually to 

the Governor and to the Legislature on 

its findings, progress, and 

recommendations relating to 

earthquake risk reduction. 

§ 1003. Members; 

appointment; chairman; vice 

chairman; quorum; public 

interest 

(a) The advisory board shall consist 

of 15 members appointed by the 

Governor and confirmed by the 

Senate, one member appointed b' 

the Senate President pro tempore 

and one member appointed by 

the Speaker of the Assembly. The 

Seismic Safety Advisory Board 

shall elect annually from its 

membership its own chairman 

and vice chairman and may 

replace them with other advisory 

boarders by majority vote. 

Advisory Board members shall be 

residents of the State of [name]. 

[NOTE: As used herein, "Senate" means 

the upper legislative house and 

"Assembly," the lower.] 

(b) A quorum shall consist of nine 

members if there are no vacancies, 

or else a majority of the members 

of the advisory board at the time. 

(c) The Legislature declares that the 

individuals appointed to the 

advisory board are intended to 

represent the professions of 

architecture, planning, fire 

protection, public utilities, 

electrical engineering, mechanical 

engineering, structural 

engineering, geotechnical 

engineering, engineering geology, 

seismology, local government, 

insurance, social services, 

emergency services, and the State 

Legislature and that such 

representation best serves the 

public interest. 

§ 1004. Appointments to 

advisory board 

The membership of the Seismic Safety 

Advisory Board shall be appointed by 

the Governor and confirmed by the 

Senate from lists of nominees 

submitted by organizations as listed 

below: 

(a) Four members appointed from 

established organizations in the 

fields of architecture and 

planning, fire protection, public 

utilities, and electrical engineering 

and mechanical engineering; 

(b) Four members appointed from 

established organizations in the 

fields of structural engineering, 

geotechnical engineering, 

engineering geology, and 

seismology; 

(c) Four members appointed from 

nominees submitted by an 

association representing the cities 

of [name of state] and an 

B-2 
ass ociation representing the 

county supervisors of [name of' 

state] (OPTION: at least one of 

which shall be a member of the 

public at large); 

(d) Three members. appointed from 

established organizations in the 

fields of insurance, social service, 

and emergency services; 

;(e) One member shall be appointed 

from the Senate by the Senate 

President pro tempore, and one 

member shall be appointed from 

the Assembly by the Speaker of 

the Assembly. Each of the 

members appointed pursuant to 

this subdivision may designate an 

alternate who shall be counted 

toward a quorum, who may vote, 

and who may receive the 

expenses specified in Section 

1006. 

§ 1005. Term of office 

The term of office for each member of 

the Seismic Safety Advisory Board shall 

be four years and each shall hold office 

until the appointment and 

qualification of his or her successor, 

except that of the initial advisory 

boarders, the Governor shall appoint 

seven whose terms will expire two 

years after appointment and seven 

members plus the chairman whose 

terms shall expire four years after 

appointment. All initial appointments 

shall be made by [date]. Any vacancies 

shall be immediately filled by the 

appointing power for the unexpired 

portion of the term in which they 

occur. 

§ 1006.. Per diem; expenses 

The members of the Seismic Safety 

Advisory Board shall serve without 

compensation but shall be paid per 

diem expenses of one hundred dollars 

($100) for each day's attendance at a 

meeting of the advisory board, plus 

actual necessary travel expenses as 

determined by the 

§ 1007. Powers and Duties 

The advisory board, in the discharge of 

its responsibilities, may do any of the 

following: 

(a) Accept grants, contributions, and 

appropriations from public 

agencies, private foundations, or 

individuals. 

(b) Appoint committees from its 

membership, appoint advisory 

committees from interested public 

and private groups, and appoint 

ex officio members who shall not 

be entitled to vote, to advise the 

advisory board. 

c Contract for or employ, any 

professional services and research 

required by the advisory board or 

required for the performance of 

necessary work and services 

which, in the advisory board's 

opinion, cannot satisfactorily be 

performed by its officers and 

employees or by other federal, 

state, or local governmental 

agencies. 

(d) Enter into agreements to act 

cooperatively with private 

nonprofit scientific, educational, 

or professional associations or 

foundations engaged in 

promoting seismic safety in 

[State's name], including activities 

under the [State's name] 

Earthquake Risk Reduction 

Program as provided in Section 

1010 of this Act. These 

associations of foundations may 

furnish materials for sale, and the 

advisory board may provide 

personnel services and office 

space therefor. Subject to rules. 

and regulations adopted by the 

advisory board, all moneys 

received from the sale of 

publications or other materials 

provided by an association or 

foundation, shall be returned to 

the association or foundation for 

use in furthering seismic safety 

programs. 

B-3 
(e) Do any and all other things 

necessary to carry out the 

purposes of this chapter. 

§ 1008. Executive director; 

employees 

The advisory board shall appoint an 

executive director who shall be 

responsible for managing the affairs of 

the advisory board, subject to the 

direction and policies of the advisory 

board. 

The executive director shall appoint such employees as may be necessary to 

carry out the functions of the advisory board. 

§ 1009. Earthquake risk 

reduction responsibilities 

The advisory board is responsible for all 

of the following in connection with 

earthquake risk mitigation: 

(a) Setting goals and priorities in the 

public and private sectors. 

(b) Requesting appropriate state 

agencies to devise criteria to 

promote earthquake and disaster 

safety. 

(c) Recommending program changes 

to state agencies, local agencies,

and the private sector where such 

changes would lessen earthquake 

risk and improve risk 

management. 

(d) Reviewing the recovery and 

reconstruction efforts after 

damaging earthquakes. 

(e) Gathering, analyzing, and 

disseminating information. 

(f) Encouraging research. 

(g) Sponsoring training to help 

improve the competence of 

specialized enforcement and other 

technical personnel. 

(h) Helping to coordinate the 

earthquake safety activities of 

government at all levels. 

(i) Establishing and maintaining 

necessary working relationships 

with any boards, advisory boards, 

departments, and agencies, or 

other public or private 

organizations. 

§ 1010. Establishment and 

objectives of the [State's name]

Earthquake Risk Reduction 

and Management Program 

(a) There is hereby established a 

coordinated program pursuant to 

which the state shall implement 

new and expanded activities to 

significantly reduce the 

earthquake threat to its citizens. 

This program, to be known as the 

[State's name] Earthquake Risk 

Reduction and Management 

Program, shall be prepared and 

administered by the Seismic 

Safety Advisory Board. 

(b) The program set forth in 

subdivisions (a) shall .specify 

priorities, funding sources and 

amounts, schedules, and other 

resources needed to significantly 

reduce earthquake risk, etc. 

statewide by January 1, [year]. The 

achievement of this goal shall be 

undertaken by establishing 

objectives within the following 

categories: 

(1) Risk Reduction. The reduction of 

the earthquake risk to acceptable levels through significant 

reduction in the number of 

vulnerable buildings, avoiding the 

creation of new or greater seismic 

risks, and the promotion and 

expansion of scientific and 

engineering studies to help 

achieve these goals. 

(2) Emergency Response. Develop 

plans, agreements and protocols, 

to deal with special issues, such as 

earthquake prediction, hazardous 

materials, critical facilities, and 

disaster response and mutual aid 

plans for all major population 

centers; establish public 

education, training, and 

B-4 
information; and develop plans to 

increase the coordination and 

integration of federal, state and 

local resources, enhance the 

state's capability to respond to a 

major earthquake disaster. 

Improve the state's emergency 

response capability by 

strengthening the statewide 

communication system, creating a 

state emergency coordination 

center or centers, and automating 

emergency management data; and 

training respondents. 

(3) Recovery. Develop systems to 

manage earthquake recovery, and 

minimize unemployment, 

business failures, tax base erosion, 

and associated monetary and 

financial losses critical to the 

restoration of [State's name] 

economy and public services. 

(c) The state's existing seismic 

safety activities are currently 

administered by over [insert 

number] separate agencies. 

Responsibility for administering 

these activities shall remain 

with these agencies. These 

existing activities shall continue 

and their efforts shall be 

incorporated into the 

coordinated program 

established under subdivision 

(a). 

,d) The program shall consist of a 

series of five-year plans and 

each five-year plan shall be 

revised by the [State's name] 

Seismic Safety Advisory Board 

annually and submitted to the 

'Governor and the Legislature. 

,Each revision shall include a 

finding on the state's progress 

toward the goal stated in 

subdivision (b). 

(e) The immediate steps to be 

undertaken by the Board shall 

include the performance of 

existing activities provided the 

budget prepared by the 

Governor for the [date] fiscal 

year and the Budget Act of 

[date] and the preparation of 

the first five-year program. 

(f) The first five-year plan 

document shall be completed 

by [date], and shall include 

specific measures and funding 

needed for adequate progress 

towards the state's earthquake 

safety goals byJanuary 1, [date]. 

This plan and subsequent plans 

shall cover a five-year 

implementation period and 

shall recommend any necessary 

statutory changes for program 

implementation. 

§ 1011. Implementation of 

earthquake risk mitigation 

program 

To implement the foregoing 

responsibilities, the advisory board may 

do any of the folilowing: 

(a) Review state budgets and review 

grant proposals, other than those 

grant proposals submitted by 

institutions of postsecondary 

education to the federal 

government, for earthquake 

related activities and to advise the 

Governor and Legislature thereon. 

(b) Review legislative proposals, 

related to earthquake safety to 

advise the Governor and 

Legislature concerning the 

proposals, and to propose needed 

legislation. 

(c) Recommend the addition, 

deletion, or changing of state 

agency standards when, in the 

advisory board's view, the existing 

situation creates undue hazards or 

when new developments would 

promote earthquake risk 

mitigation, and conduct public 

hearings as deemed necessary on 

the subjects. 

(d) In the conduct of any hearing, 

investigation, inquiry, or study 

which is ordered or undertaken in 

any part of the state, administer 

oaths and issue subpoenas for the 

attendance of witnesses and the 

production of papers, records, 

B-5 
reports, books, maps, accounts, 

documents, and testimony. 

§ 1012. Consultation with 

other agencies and groups 

The board shall prepare the [State's 

name] Earthquake Risk Reduction and 

Management Program, in consultation 

with the [list appropriate agencies 

responsible for emergency services, 

geology, emergency medical services, 

the state's universities and other 

appropriate institutions of higher 

learning, the National Guard], other 

appropriate state and local agencies, 

the private sector, volunteer groups, 

and the Legislature. 

The board may hold public hearings 

or joint hearings with other groups and 

conduct other activities as necessary for 

the development of the program. 

§ 1013. Short Title 

This act shall be known and cited as 

the Seismic Safety Advisory Board Act. 

B-6 
Appendix C 

Example of Interstate Compact 

Interstate Earthquake Compact of 

[Yea-The Legislature of the State of 

[Name] hereby ratifies a compact on 

behalf of the state of [Name] with any 

other state legally joining therein in 

the form substantially as follows: 

Article I. Purpose 

The purpose of this compact is to 

develop plans and advise on 

earthquake risk reduction and 

management programs) emergency 

response measures, and earthquake 

recovery plans of member states, and 

facilitate mutual aid in the member 

states, and establish a central repository 

of standardized information, inclu ding 

resources in the multi-state area that 

might be needed in a major 

earthquake. The full, immediate, and 

effective utilization of the resources of 

the respective states, including such 

resources as may be available from the 

United States government or any other 

source, is necessary to provide needed 

short-term earthquake disaster 

assistance to states requesting aid. 

These resources shall be incorporated 

into a plan or plans of mutual aid to be 

developed among the appropriate 

agencies of states that are parties to this 

compact. These agencies shall develop 

and follow procedures designed to 

assure the maintenance of resource 

inventories and the exchange of 

information about earthquake risk 

reduction disaster response and 

recovery. It is the policy of the party 

states to carry out this compact in a 

spirit of cooperation to provide the 

most effective earthquake risk 

reduction and management program. 

Article II. Intrastate Planning 

Each party state shall have the duty to 

formulate earthquake risk reduction and 

response and recovery plans and programs 

within such state. There shall be frequent 

consultation between the representatives of 

such states and within the United States 

government and the free exchange of relief 

plans and information, including 

inventories of any material and equipment 

available for response to earthquake 

emergencies. To this end, each state will 

maintain standardized data which will 

establish a comprehensive listing of all 

resources within the (number)-state region 

that might be needed to formulate plans 

during an earthquake disaster. The 

inventory will be shared equitably among 

the party states in the event of an 

earthquake or other emergency, 

recognizing each state's primary 

responsibility to assist and protect its 

residents. Each party state shall also share 

any available information on earthquake 

forecasts and reports of seismic activity. 

Article III. Responsibilities Of 

States 

Whenever the governCOr of a party state 

requests aid from the governor of another 

party state pursuant to this compact in 

coping with an earthquake emergency, the 

requested state shall make available all 

possible aid to the requesting state 

consonant with the maintenance of 

protection for its residents and the policies 

stated in Article . 

Article IV. Reciprocity 

Whenever the officers or employees of any 

party state are rendering aid in another 

state pursuant to the request of another 

party state under this compact, those 

officers or employees shall, while under the 

direction of the authorities of the state to 

which th ey are rendering aid, have the 

same powers, duties, rights privileges, and 

immunities as comparable officers and 

employees of the state to which they are 

rendering aid. Any person holding a 

license, certificate or other permit issued by 

any state, demonstrating the meeting of 

qualifications for professional, mechanical, 

or other skills may render aid involving 

such skill in any party state to meet an 

earthquake emergency, and the state in 

C-1 
which aid is rendered shall give due 

recognition of such license, certificate, or 

other permit as if issued in the state in 

which aid is rendered. 

Article V. Immunity 

No party state or its officers, employees or 

other persons, certified by party states 

pursuant to agreed upon criteria and 

procedures for certification, rendering aid 

in another state pursuant to this compact 

shall be liable on account of any act or 

omission in good faith on their part while 

so engaged, or on account of maintenance 

or use of any equipment or supplies in 

connection therewith. 

Article VI. Supplementary 

Agreements 

Nothing in this agreement precludes any 

state from entering into supplementary 

agreements with another state or states for 

the undertaking of mutual aid and 

exchange of information in the event of an 

earthquake emergency. These 

supplementary agreements may 

comprehend, but are not limited to, 

provisions for evacuation and reception of 

injured and other persons and the 

exchange of medical, fire, police, public 

utility reconnaissance, welfare, 

transportation and communications 

personnel, equipment and supplies. 

Article VII. Compensation 

Each party state shall provide 

compensation and death benefits to its 

injured officers, employees or other persons 

certified by party states, pursuant to agreed 

upon criteria and procedures for 

certification and the representatives of 

deceased officers, employees and other 

certified persons in case officers, employees 

or certified persons sustain injuries or death 

while rendering aid in another state 

pursuant to this compact, in the same 

manner and on the same terms as if the 

Injury or death were sustained within the 

state by or in which the officer, employee 

or certified person was regularly employed. 

Article VIII. Reimbursement 

Any party state rendering aid in another 

state pursuant to this compact shall be 

reimbursed by the party state receiving 

such aid for any loss or damage to, or 

expense incurred in the operation of any 

equipment answering a request for aid, and 

for the cost of all materials, transportation, 

wages, salaries and maintenance of officers, 

employees and equipment incurred in 

connection with such request, including 

amounts paid under Article VII, provided 

that nothing herein contained shall 

prevent any assisting party state from 

assuming such loss, damage, expense or 

other cost or from loaning such equipment 

or from donating such services to the 

receiving party state without charge or cost. 

Any two (2) or more party states may enter 

into supplementary agreements 

establishing a different allocation of costs 

as among those states. The United States 

government may relieve the party state 

receiving aid from any liability and 

reimburse the party state rendering aid for 

loss, damage or expense incurred within 

the terms of this article. 

Article IX. Evacuation Plans 

Plans for the orderly evacuation and 

reception of the civilian population as the 

result of an earthquake emergency shall be 

worked out from time to time between 

representatives of the party states. Such 

plans shall include the manner of 

transporting such evacuees, the number of 

evacuees to be received in different areas, 

the manner in which food, clothing, 

housing, and medical care will be provided, 

the registration of the evacuees, the 

providing of facilities for the notification of 

relatives or friends and the forwarding of 

such evacuees to other areas or the 

bringing in of additional materials, 

supplies, and all other relevant factors. The 

plans must provide that the party state 

receiving evacuees shall be reimbursed 

generally for the out-of-pocket expenses 

incurred in receiving and caring for the 

evacuees, for the expenditures and 

transportation, food, clothing, medicines 

and medical care and like items. These 

expenditures shall be reimbursed by the 

party state of which the evacuees are 

residents or by the United States 

government under plans approved by it. 

The party state of which the evacuees are 

residents shall assume the responsibility for 

the ultimate support or repatriation of such 

evacuees. 

C-2 
Article X. Availability 

Any state of the United States shall be 

eligible to become party to this compact. As 

to any eligible party state, this compact 

shall become effective when its legislature 

shall have enacted it into law, provided, 

that it shall not become initially effective 

until enacted into law by two (2) party 

states. 

Article XI. Withdrawal 

Any party state may withdraw from this 

compact by enacting a statute repealing the 

same, but no such withdrawal shall become 

effective until ninety (90) days after the 

governor of the withdrawing state shall 

have sent formal notice in writing to the 

governor of each other party state 

informing the governors of the action of 

the legislature in repealing the compact 

and declaring an intention to withdraw. A 

withdrawing state shall be liable for any 

obligations which it may have incurred on 

account of its party status up to the 

effective date of withdrawal, except that if 

the withdrawing state has specifically 

undertaken or committed itself to any performance of an obligation extending 

beyond the effective date of withdrawal it 

shall remain liable to the extent of such 

obligation. 

Article XII. Severability 

This compact is to be construed to 

effectuate the purposes stated in Article. If 

any provision of this compact is declared 

unconstitutional or the applicability 

thereof to any person or circumstances is 

held invalid, the constitutionality of the 

remainder of this compact and the 

applicability thereof to other persons and 

circumstances is not to be affected by it. 

(This interstate compact is modeled 

upon the one ratified by the State of 

Tennessee in connection with its 

membership in the Central United 

States Earthquake Consortium.) 

C-3 
Appendix D 

Example of Articles of Incorporation 

Articles of Incorporation 

of 

[Name of Board] 

We, the undersigned natural persons of 

age of twenty-one years or more, acting 

as incorporators of a corporation, adopt 

the following Articles of Incorporation 

for such corporation pursuant to the 

State of [state of incorporation]: 

1. The name of the Corporation is 

"[Name of Board] ."/ 

2. The period of duration is perpetual. 

3. (a) (1) The corporation is 

organized and shall be operated 

exclusively for charitable, scientific, 

or education purposes including for 

such purposes the making of 

distribution to organizations, 

formed and operated exclusively for 

public charitable purposed and 

qualifying for exemption from 

taxation under Section 501 (c), (3) of 

the Internal Revenue Code. 

(Hereinafter cited as "I.R.C." 

Reference herein to the I.R.C. also 

refers to the corresponding 

provisions of any future United 

States I.R.C. Law). 

(2) The corporation shall 

promote and support adequate 

earthquake risk reduction and 

management in the United States and 

the states of [enumeratel; shall 

formulate and improve the 

administration of earthquake affairs 

through the Departments and agencies 

of their respective state and federal 

government of the United States. 

(3) The corporation shall 

promote earthquake risk reduction and 

management and shall address the risk 

reduction, emergency response and 

recovery planning, public education, 

and other related matters. For the 

purpose of these Articles of 

Incorporation and this corporation, 

earthquake risk management is hereby 

defined to mean protection from 

physical destruction or damage 

whether such damage or destruction 

shall be man-made or the result of the 

elements or geologic hazards, and the 

rendition of aid and assistance to 

people, organizations and other entities 

required as a result of such physical 

destruction or damages. 

In furtherance of, and not in 

limitation of the general powers 

conferred by the laws of the State of 

Istate of incorporation], and the objects 

and purposes herein set forth, it is 

expressly provided that this 

corporation shall also have the 

following powers, viz.: 

Acting through its Board of 

Directors, its Chairperson and other 

officers, subject to the powers and 

restrictions of the Articles of 

Incorporation and its Bylaws, to do all 

such acts as are necessary or 

convenient to the attainment of the 

objects and purposes herein set forth, 

and to the same extent and as fully as 

any natural person might or could do. 

To purchase, lease, hold, sell, 

mortgage, or otherwise acquire or 

dispose of real or personal property, to 

enter into, make perform or carry out 

contracts of every kind with any 

person, firm) corporation or 

-association;to do any acts necessary or 

expedient for carrying on any and all 

of the activities and pursuing any and 

all of the objects and purposes set forth 

D-1 
in the Articles of Incorporation and not 

forbidden by the laws of the State of 

To have offices and promote and 

carry on its objects and purposes 

within or without the State of [state of 

incorporation] in other states of the 

United States. 

In general, to have all powers 

conferred upon a corporation by the 

laws of the State of [state of 

incorporation], except as herein 

prohibited, or forbidden by the Bylaws 

of this corporation. 

(b) The Corporation shall be a 

non-profit corporation and none of its 

assets shall ever be returned or inure to 

the benefit of the members or officers 

or directors thereof, or other private 

persons, but shall be used exclusively 

for the aims and purposes of the 

corporation. In the event of the 

dissolution of the corporation the 

Board of Directors shall, after paying or 

making provision for the payment of 

all of the liabilities of the corporation, 

dispose of all of the assets of the 

corporation exclusively for the 

purposes of the corporation in such 

manner or to such organization or 

organizations organized exclusively for 

religious charitable, scientific, literary 

or educational purposes as shall at the 

time qualify as an exempt organization 

under Section 501 (c) (3) I.R.C. as the 

Board of Directors shall determine. Any 

of the assets not so disposed of, shall be 

disposed by the court having 

jurisdiction over such matters, 

exclusively for such purposes or to such 

organizations as such court 

shall determine which are organized 

and operated exclusively for such 

purposes. 

(c) (1) No part of the net 

earnings of the corporation shall inure 

to the benefit or be distributed to the 

benefit of the members or officers or 

directors thereof or other private 

persons except that the corporation 

shall be authorized and empowered to 

pay reasonable compensation for 

services rendered and to make payment 

and distribution in furtherance to this 

purpose. 

(2) No substantial part of the 

activities of the corporation shall be 

the carrying on of propaganda or 

otherwise attempting to influence 

legislation and the corporation shall 

not participate in or intervene in 

(including the publishing or 

distribution of statements) any political 

campaign on behalf of any candidate 

for public office. Notwithstanding any 

other provisions of these Articles, the 

corporation shall not carry on any 

other activities not permitted to be 

carried on (1) by a corporation exempt 

from Federal Income Tax under Section 

501 (c) (3) of the I.R.C. or (2) a 

corporation contributions to which are 

deductible under Section 170 of the 

I.R.C 

4. The corporation may have officers 

and authorized agents and promote 

and carry out its purposes and 

objects within and without'the 

State of [state of incorporation]. 

5. The corporation shall not have any 

stockholders. The corporation shall 

be made up of the membership of 

the coalition. Each member of the 

coalition shall be a member of the 

Board of Directors and the right to 

one (1) vote. 

(a) Membership shall be open 

and available to the state of the 

coalition and the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency as provided by a 3 

A of the Bylaws. 

(b) SPECIAL PROVISIONS. (1) 

Neither an amendment to the Articles 

of Incorporation or the adoption of a 

plan for the dissolution of the 

corporation may be undertaken 

without the two-thirds (2/3) approval 

of the membership. (2) The majority of 

the membership shall have the sole 

authority to adopt or amend the 

Bylaws provided no adopted Bylaws 

nor any amendment thereto shall be 

made which is inconsistent with these 

Articles of Incorporation or any 

D-2 
provision of the State of [state of 

incorporation]. 

6. The term of the members of the 

Board of Directors shall be governed 

and set out by the Bylaws, which 

shall be consistent with the 

requirements as declared in Article 

Five above. 

7. The regulation of the internal 

affairs of the corporation shall be as 

set out in the Bylaws. Provision for 

distribution or final liquidation 

shall be as declared in Article Three 

above. 

8. The address, including street and 

number, of the initial registered 

office is [address] and the name of 

its initial registered agent at such 

address is [address]. 

9. The number of Directors 

constituting the initial Board of 

Directors is and the name and 

address including street and 

number of the persons who are to 

serve as the initial directors until 

the first annual meeting or until 

their successors be appointed and 

qualified are: [enumerate] 

D-3 
Appendix E 

Example of Corporate Bylaws 

Bylaws of the 

[name of multi-state seismic safety advisory board] 

Preamble 

The [name of multi-state seismic safety board] shall be available to states for 

advisory board] shall manage and which corresponding prorated funds 

coordinate multi-state and interstate have been added to the annual [name 

earthquake risk reduction activities in of multi-state seismic safety advisory 

those states vulnerable to a maj or board] funding. The amount of the 

earthquake in the [geographic -annual prorated funds will be 

area/jurisdiction]. [Name of multi-state calculated by dividing the annual 

seismic safety advisory board] shall base [name of multi-state seismic 

actively work with government and the safety advisory board] funding 

private sector to facilitate effective provided by FEMA by [appropriate 

efforts to reduce and manage number of states]. 

earthquake risks. b. Associate membership in the 

[name of multi-state seismic safety Name of Corporation advisory board] shall be open to other 

1. This private not-for-profit states and institutions manifesting an 

corporation shall be known as the interest in the purposes and 

[name of multi-state seismic safety objectives of the corporation. 

advisory board]. c. The membership of the 

corporation may be expanded. 

Seal d. No membership certificates of 

2. The corporate seal of the [fname of the corporation shall be required. 

multi-state seismic safety advisory e. The administrative head of any board] shall have inscribed thereon the prospective state entity or private name of the corporation, the year of its institution desiring to be considered creation, and the words "Incorporated, for membership shall apply in writing State of [name of state of to the Board of Directors specifying incorporation]." the type of membership requested. 

The board shall vote on admission of 

Members any new organization to the [name of 

multi-state seismic safety advisory 3. Membership to this corporation board] at the next regular meeting shall consist of Regular and Associate and provide notice of the decision to members, defined as follows: the requesting entity. 

a. The Regular Members of the 

[name of multi-state seismic safety Place of Business 

advisory board] shall be the states of 

[names of member states], and 4. The principal administrative office 

Regular membership in the [name of of the corporation shall be at 

multi-state seismic safety advisory [appropriate address]. The corporation 

E-1

may have other offices in such other 

places as the Board of Directors shall 

designate from time to time. 

5. The purpose of [name of multistate seismic safety advisory board] 

shall be as set forth in its Articles of 

Incorporation as filed in the State of 

[name of state of incorporation]. 

Voting 

6. a. A majority of the state 

representatives of the Board of 

Directors shall constitute a quorum for 

the transaction of business at any 

meeting of the Board, provided that if 

less than a majority of the directors is 

present at said meeting a majority of 

the state representatives adjourn the 

meeting to another time without 

further notice. 

b. Board members may vote at 

meetings, either in person or by 

proxy. Such proxy may be extended 

to any person designated by the 

board member being represented. 

Such proxy will extend to the proxy 

party full authority, rights and 

privileges as specified by these bylaws 

for board members to the extent 

specified by the authorizing 

document. All proxy votes must be in 

writing and filed with the secretarytreasurer, or the Executive Director. 

c. Each board member shall have 

one vote. 

d. Neither an amendment to the 

Articles of Incorporation, nor the 

adoption of a plan for the dissolution 

of the corporation may be 

undertaken without the approval of 

two-thirds (2/3) of the state 

representatives of the board of 

directors. 

Board of Directors 

7. a. The Board of Directors shall 

consist of states possessing regular 

membership in the [name of multistate seismic safety advisory board]. 

E-2 

b. Sovereign state governments of 

the corporation shall have 

representation on the board of 

directors through the director of the 

appropriate state emergency 

management agency, or the 

equivalent agency. 

c. In furtherance of, and not in 

limitation of, the general powers 

usually vested in the board of 

directors by virtue of their office, the 

powers expressly given by the laws of 

the State of [name of state of 

incorporation], the terms of the 

charter of this corporation, and 

elsewhere in these bylaws, the 

following specific powers are hereby 

conferred upon the Board of 

Directors: 

(i) To take action as necessary to 

attain the goals and objectives of the 

[name of multi-state seismic safety 

advisory board]. 

(ii) To exclusively develop all policies 

and authorize all business 

transactions. 

(iii) To maintain all policies and 

procedures established by the Board 

of Directors as an official record of 

Board activity in a policy and 

procedure manual which will be 

available for review during regular 

office hours at the principal 

administrative office of the 

corporation. 

(iv) To pay, at its discretion, for any 

property or rights acquired by or 

services rendered to this corporation, 

either wholly or in part, in money, stocks, bonds, debentures, or other 

securities. 

(v) To create, make and issue 

mortgage, bonds, deeds of trust, trust 

agreements, and negotiable or 

transferable instruments and 

securities secured by mortgage or 

otherwise, and to do every act and 

thing necessary to effectuate the 

same. 
(vi) To appoint, remove of suspend 

[name of multi-state seismic safety 

advisory board] staff or agents 

permanently or temporarily, 

determining their duties and 

responsibilities) to set their salaries 

and to require security bonds as 

needed. 

(vii) To confer by resolution upon the 

Executive Director the power to make 

recommendations to the board 

concerning; the appointment, 

removal or suspension of subordinate 

officers or agents; the designation of 

their duties and responsibilities; and 

the establishment of their salaries. 

(viii) To determine and approve a 

party who shall have the authority on 

behalf of the corporation to sign bills, 

notes, receipts, acceptances, 

endorsements, checks, releases, 

contracts and documents. 

(ix) To delegate any of the powers of 

the board, in the course of the 

business of the corporation, to any 

standing or special committee or to 

any officer or agent of the 

corporation, and to appoint any 

person or persons to be agents of the 

corporation with such powers 

(including the power to sub-delegate) 

and upon such terms as it sees fit. 

(x) To take action as necessary and 

reasonable to prohibit the board, any 

member or employee, acting in their 

official capacity from authorizing or 

permitting any business transaction 

which creates a conflict of interest or 

the appearance of impropriety by 

allowing any one person or business 

enterprise to exert improper influence 

over the board. 

(xi) To establish the authority to 

accept services, gifts, grants or loans 

whenever the federal government or 

any agency or officer thereof or 

whenever any person, firm or 

corporation shall offer to this 

corporation services, equipment, 

supplies, materials, or funds by way 

of gift or grant, for purposes of 

facilitating and fulfilling the goals 

and objectives of the corporation. 

(xii) To take action as necessary and 

feasible to ensure that all gifts, grants. 

loans: gratuities, discounts, favors: 

hospitality or services authorized by 

the board do not create a conflict of 

interest or the appearance of 

impropriety for the board of any 

member thereof. 

(xiii) To ensure that, not more than 

50 percent of any federally provided 

Lname of multi-state seismic safety 

advisory board] funds be reserved for 

[name of multi-state seismic safety 

advisory board, and that not more 

than 50 percent of said funds be 

utilized for indirect operations, the 

balance be reserved for funding such 

multi-state projects (MSP) as the 

Board may identify. 

Officers of the Corporation 

8. a. The officers of the corporation 

shall be the following: 

(1)The chairman, the vice-chairman, 

the secretary-treasurer, and the 

executive director. 

(ii) The chairman, the vice-chairman, 

the secretary-treasurer shall be elected 

by the Board of Directors. 

(iii) The elected officials shall serve 

for one (1) year; commencing with 

the first day of January following the 

annual meeting: at which they were 

elected; or until their successors are 

elected and duly qualified. An officer 

is ineligible to hold more than on e 

elected position. 

(iv) The executive director shall be 

appointed by the Board of Directors. 

b. The chairman shall preside at all 

[name of multi-state seismic safety 

advisory board] Board of Directors 

meetings and provide general 

supervision and direction to all 

E-3 
officers and Board of Directors of tfie 

corporation. 

c. The vice-chairman shall perforna 

the duties of the chairman in the 

event of disability or absence from 

the latter office. 

d. The secretary-treasurer shall attei,id all sessions of the Board of Director 

and all meetings of members, and a sct 

as clerk thereof, and record all vote:Ict 

and minutes; shall give, or cause to 

be given, notices of all meetings of 

the members and of the Board of 

Directors; shall perform such other 

duties as may be prescribed by the 

chairman; and, shall be sworn to the 

faithful discharge of their accurate 

accounts of receipts and 

disbursements in books belonging t o 

the corporation and to the credit of 

the corporation; shall disburse fund 

of the corporation as may be ordere id 

- by the Board of Directors, taking 

proper vouchers thereof, and renderr 

to the chairman and Board membeirsX 

at the regular meetings of the board 

or whenever required, an accountin g of all the transactions; and at the 

expense of the corporation, shall be 

furnished such bonds as the Board )f

Directors may require. 

e. The executive director, the senior 

[name of multi-state seismic safety advisory board] staff member, shall 

have general and active managemer it 

of the business of the corporation; 

shall execute bonds, mortgages, all 

contracts requiring a seal, and affix 

the corporation seal thereto in 

accordance with the authorization 

from the Board of Directors. 

(i) The executive director of (name of 

multi-state seismic safety advisory board] shall be appointed by the Boar d 

of Directors and sit in an advisory

capacity only as an ex officio member 

to the board. 

(ii) The property of the corporations

hall be managed by the executive 

director under the express direction 

and supervision of the Board of 

Directors. 

(iii) The executive director shall have 

the authority to purchase or otherwise 

acquire for the corporation any 

property, rights or privileges that have 

been specifically authorized to be acquired by the Board of Directors. 

(iv) The executive director may be 

granted the authority to develop and 

appoint advisory committees to meet 

and fulfill the goals and objectives of 

the [name of multi-state seismic safety advisory board]. 

(v) The executive director shall submit 

a report of the operations of the 

corporation for the preceding fiscal 

year, January 1 to December 31, to the 

board at its first regular meeting 

thereafter. 

(vi) The executive director shall be an 

advisory member of all standing 

committees. 

(vii) The executive director shall make 

all necessary arrangements for the 

holding of meetings and shall have 

authority to make such reasonable 

expenditures for this purpose that are 

within the limits of funds available in 

the treasury of the corporation. 

(viii) The executive director shall 

maintain all vital documents, including but not limited to all work products, 

fiscal records, administrative 

documents, contractual and 

developmental programs at the 

principal office. 

(ix) The executive director, under the 

supervision of the secretary-treasurer, 

shall maintain accurate accounts of 

receipts and disbursements in books 

belonging to the corporation, and to 

the credit of the corporation in such 

depositories as may be designated the, 

Board of Directors. 

(x) The executive director, under the 

supervision of the secretary-treasurer, 

shall disburse the funds of the 

corporation as may be authorized by the Board of Directors, taking proper 

E-4 
vouchers thereof, and present to the 

Board of Directors at the regular 

meetings, or whenever required, an 

accounting of all transactions. 

(xi) The executive director shall be 

furnished such bonds as the Board of 

Directors may require. 

(xii) The executive director shall make 

recommendations to the board, for 

their final action, in respect to hiring, 

firing, salaries of staff members, and 

any other personnel action as may be 

designated by the Board. 

Standing Committees 

9. a. It is the intention of the board 

to establish standing committees to 

provide oversight and direction to the 

corporation as may be required. 

b. The chairman with the approval of 

the board shall make appointments to 

such standing committees from the 

total membership, as may be deemed 

necessary for the proper operation and 

supervision of the corporation. 

Meetings 

10. a. Regular meetings of the Board 

of Directors shall be held at such time 

and place as may be determined by the 

board. Notice of the time and place of 

such meetings must be given to the 

members by the secretary-treasurer, or 

the office of the executive director, in 

writing, at least thirty (30) days prior to 

the date thereof. 

b. All proposals and/or contracts 

requiring action by the board of 

Directors to expend moneys shall 

require notice of such activity and 

copies of said proposals and/or 

contracts be delivered to Board 

members in writing at least 15 days 

prior to the date of a scheduled 

meeting. 

c. An annual meeting of the board of 

directors shall be conducted during 

the fourth quarter of each year. 

Notice of such meetings shall be 

transmitted to the members in the 

same manner as provided in these 

bylaws for notice of amending the 

bylaws, the annual meeting shall be 

considered as a regular meeting. 

d. Special meetings of the board of 

Directors of the corporation may be 

called by the chairman, or by three 

state representatives for such purpose 

or purposes as they deem advisable. 

Notice of such a called meeting shall 

be transmitted to the members in the 

same manner as provided in these 

bylaws for notice of the regular 

meetings of the board except that the 

notice shall state the purpose or 

purposes for which the meeting is 

called. 

e. All meetings of the board members 

shall be conducted in accordance 

with Robert's Rules ofOrder. 

Tenure of Offlce 

11. In the event a vacancy occurs in 

the office of Chairman, vice-chairman, 

or secretary-treasurer the vacancy for 

the unexpired term shall be filled by 

majority vote of the Board of Directors 

within thirty (30) days of the vacancy. 

No officer shall be subject to removal, 

except for cause, not shall their term of 

office be reduced during their tenure. 

Compensation 

12. a. The board shall not receive any 

stated salaries. By resolution of the 

Board of Directors, a fixed sum and 

expenses, if any, may be allowed for 

attendance at any regular or special 

meetings of the board. However, 

nothing herein contained shall 

preclude any director from serving the 

corporation in any other capacity and 

receiving compensation. 

b. The Board of Directors shall adopt 

a policy in respect to benefits and 

leave which will apply to the entire 

[name of multi-state seismic safety 

advisory board] staff. 

E-5 
Resignations 

13. A board member, as defined in 

Article 3, may resign their office at any 

time, provided such resignation is 

made in writing to the Board of 

Directors. Such resignation shall be 

effective upon deposit in the United 

States mail. 

Inspection and Audit of Books 

and Accounts 

14. a. The books, accounts, and 

records of the corporation shall be 

open to inspection by any member of 

the Board of Directors during regular 

office hours of the corporation. The 

original or a duplicate membership 

registry shall at all times be kept at the 

office of the corporation. 

b. The books, accounts, records and 

substantive operations of the 

corporation shall be audited by an 

independent accounting organization after the close of each fiscal year, and 

the report shall be provided to the 

Board of Directors at their first regular meeting following the conclusion of 

said audit. 

Notice and Waiver of Notice 

15. Whenever, under the provisions 

of these bylaws, notice is required to be 

given to any directors, officers, or 

members, it shall not be construed to 

be limited to personal notice, but such 

notice may be given by teletype, 

telecopier or in writing by depositing 

the same in the post office or letter box 

in a prepaid, sealed wrapper, addressed 

to such Director, officer or member at 

their address as the same appears on 

the books of the corporation, and the 

time when the same shall be mailed or 

dispatched by teletype or telecopier 

shall be deemed to be the time of the 

giving of such notice. Whenever any notice is required to be given under the 

provisions of these bylaws, a waiver 

thereof in writing, signed by the party 

or parties entitled to said notice, 

whether before or after the time stated 

herein, shall be deemed equivalent 

thereto. 

16. A two-thirds majority vote of the 

Board of Directors shall be required to 

adopt or amend the bylaws provided 

notice of such proposed amendment 

has been given to each member at least 

thirty (30) days prior to a regular 

meeting at which the amendment is to 

be considered, providing that the 

proposed amendment is not 

inconsistent with the Articles of 

Incorporation. 

E-6 
Appendix F 

Model Staff Duty Descriptions 

Because of the multidisciplinary nature 

of a seismic safety advisory board's 

work, it will require the assistance of 

skilled professionals in a number of 

areas of expertise. If the board's fiscal 

and organizational means are limited, 

it may be necessary to rely on the 

technical and professional resources of 

other public-sector or private-sector 

agencies. However, the board can 

expect at some point to require 

assistance for the following 

professional and technical functions. 

They can be performed by full-time 

staffers, who may perform more than just 

one of these functions, or by 

professionals employed by outside 

agencies or entities who serve the 

board as a collateral function of their 

primary employment. 

Legal Counsel 

In addition to dealing with technical 

disciplines like engineering, 

seismology, and geology, the board will 

occasionally need legal advice. 

For example, recent Supreme Court 

decisions expanded the economic 

rights of property owners impacted by 

regulatory action. When mandating 

seismic risk reduction measures for 

private property, State and local 

governments will need to craft risk 

reduction strategies that do not 

compromise the Constitutional 

principle of due process or violate the 

prohibition against taking of property 

without compensation. The board 

should ensure that seismic risk 

reduction policies and procedures are 

based on sound judgment and due 

process, intended to protect both the 

public safety and the economic fights 

of property owners. 

Although design professionals have 

the capability to design and construct 

buildings that resist earthquakes, the 

tort liability issue has inhibited 

innovation in the retrofitting of 

vulnerable buildings and the 

development of seismically resistant 

new buildings. Proper building 

practices, retrofitting collapse-hazard 

buildings and innovative structural 

designs and components in -new 

buildings, reduce earthquake-related 

casualties. The board may need to 

develop a clearly defined tort liability 

benchmark to give local governm ents 

and design professionals when their 

professional judgment calls for 

deviation from existing building codes. 

Such concerns may require the 

advice of a legal counsel, to study 

questions of regulatory due process and 

state and private-sector liability and to 

recommend changes to promote 

earthquake risk management. 

Moreover, legal counsel can provide 

the board with legal advice on 

contracts and interagency agreements, 

including contracts for grant funds, 

program-related services, 

administrative service contracts, and 

interagency agreements. In addition to 

advising the board and its staff, a legal 

counsel familiar with seismic safety 

issues also may be valuable in 

legislative matters, e.g., bill tracking 

and analysis, drafting amendments, 

consulting with board committees and 

other interested parties, making 

presentations, reviewing position 

letters. 

Engineering Geologist 

Earth scientists have long recognized 

the importance of their disciplines in 

identifying and avoiding or reducing 

earthquake hazards. Ample evidence 

correlating surface geology with 

earthquake damage has demonstrated 

that earth science must be better 

reflected in government policies aimed 

at reducing the effects of earthquakes 

on buildings, bridges, roads, and 

F-1 
pipelines. To carry out its 

responsibilities relating to the earth 

sciences, the board may need an 

experienced engineering geologist with 

sound judgment and recognized 

credibility, who can independently 

interact with professional peers, 

management-level employees of state 

agencies, legislators and their staffs, 

and local government officials. In 

addition, an articulate engineering 

geologist may prove invaluable in 

explaining the intricacies of 

earthquake-related hazards to the press, 

the public, and policymakers. 

An engineering geologist can 

provide the board with a focus on 'real 

time" geological processes, their effects 

on buildings already built or to be 

built, geological concerns regarding 

lifelines (gas and water pipelines, 

electrical distribution systems), 

transportation systems, and similar 

issues involving the interaction of 

manmade facilities and the terrain they 

rest on. Good geological advice may be 

particularly important in energyproducing regions where oil and gas 

exploration, development, and 

extraction may be significant issues. 

The Engineering Geologist would also 

be able to advise the board on seismic 

safety policy in the disciplines of 

geophysics, seismology, geology, and 

engineering geology, as well on policies 

relating to electric, water, and gas 

supply systems. Moreover, an 

engineering geologist may prove quite 

valuable in making policy 

recommendations to mitigate 

earthquake-caused landslide, ground 

failure, liquefaction, dam failure, and 

tsunami hazards, and on ways of 

incorporating these policies into local 

and-use planning, subdivision control, 

and building regulations. 

An engineering geologist, can also 

serve as the board's liaison with the 

Legislature and organizations such as 

the US Geological Survey and the 

National Science Foundation's Division 

of Earth Sciences on earth science 

issues, as well as working with local 

and state government geologists to 

improve understanding of seismic 

hazards in local government planning 

and regulation of development. 

Moreover, such help may prove 

invaluable in evaluating earthquake 

predictions for governmental leaders, 

the news media, and the public, 

helping separate scientifically based 

forecasts from those that are not. 

Structural Engineer/Architect 

A structural engineer, or architect with 

structural knowledge, can help with 

design-related matters, such as 

earthquake-related architectural and 

engineering programs, and building 

codes and standards affecting historical 

buildings, common structures and 

buildings, as well as schools, 

emergency service facilities, and 

hospitals. 

Such services may be particularly 

useful in preparing, analyzing and 

recommending legislation related to 

building stock vulnerability, 

earthquake engineering, structural 

design and architecture, as well as 

working with building codes and 

building officials. Design information, 

perspectives and judgments on staff 

work having earthquake design 

components, retrofit and damage repair would aid in report preparation and 

policy recommendations. A structural 

engineer or architect could also provide 

staff liaison between the board and 

professional organizations representing 

engineering, architecture and other 

related disciplines, and 

local, state, and federal agencies, as 

well as the Legislature. 

The structural engineer or architect 

should be certified by the appropriate 

licensing board, and have adequate 

practical experience in earthquakerelated engineering, including dynamic 

analysis of structures, earthquake 

damage assessment, seismic hazard 

mitigation and post-quake repair, building codes and standards, research, 

government review and permit procedures. He or she should also have 

participated in organizations such as 

- F-2 
the Earthquake Engineering Research 

Institute (EERI), and the American 

Institute of Architects (AIA) and be 

knowledgeable of the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency 

(FEMA) and the National Science 

Foundation (NSF). 

Legislative Liaison 

The board will probably consider 

legislation related to earthquake risk 

reduction, building codes, the 

geotechnical sciences, the engineering 

and design professions, planning, local 

government, emergency response and 

post-earthquake recovery. It may prove 

worthwhile to use a specialist for 

legislative tasks. 

These tasks typically include 

collecting information and securing 

expert testimony, as well as bill 

tracking and analysis, drafting 

amendments, testifying at legislative 

committee hearings, consulting with 

board's committees and other 

interested parties, and making 

presentations. The Legislative Liaison 

could draft letters for the board to send 

to the Governor and the Legislature 

supporting or opposing legislation, as 

well as formulating recommendations 

on pending legislation. 

The legislative liaison should have 

experience in planning, program 

evaluation, or policy analysis, and be 

able to deal with complex 

governmental problems. He or she 

should be able to effectively consult 

with and advise administrators or other 

interested parties on earthquake-related 

issues, gain and maintain the 

confidence and cooperation of those 

contacted, and effectively advocate the 

board's position on p ending legislation 

before legislative and other 

committees. 

Emergency Response Specialist 

A major catastrophic earthquake will 

impose heavy demands on emergency 

responders, probably exceeding 

capabilities and resources. 

Consequently, the board should focus 

some of its attention on ways to 

strengthen emergency response. This 

may require a specialist who would be 

responsible for emergency response 

planning. A comprehensive, multihazard, emergency management 

system should coordinate the response 

elements of local, state, and federal 

governments with volunteer and 

private sector resources. The board can 

help formulate improvements in 

statewide emergency response 

capabilities and organization and 

recommendations to commit time and 

resources on training and testing plans 

for future emergencies. The failure to 

make such investments could leave 

states and local communities 

vulnerable. 

Recovery Specialist 

Financial issues critical to the 

restoration of an earthquake-damaged 

area's economy and public services may 

have to be addressed. The board may 

need the advice of a recovery specialist 

regarding recovery programs, priorities, 

legal processes, financing, insurance, 

and disaster aid. Through advanced 

planning, the board can better 

understand the need for outside 

resources and aid during the recovery 

phase, and determine beforehand what 

must be done to get assistan ce. After a 

disaster, pressure mounts to rebuild 

immediately, without adequately 

thinking through the long-term 

implications and consequences. The 

services of a recovery specialist may 

facilitate advance recovery planning 

and help ensure a more thoughtful, 

methodical, and production recovery 

process 

Public Information Officer 

The board may require a public 

information officer to write, edit, and 

prepare information and material for 

dissemination through all major media 

and devise a public information 

campaign. Typically the officer will also 

F-3 
prepare replies to difficult and 

complicated correspondence, and act as 

spokesperson for the agency with 

public groups, news media, and 

individuals inquiring about board 

activities. This may also include 

arranging the participation of board 

members or staff personnel as speakers 

before public groups, or on radio and 

television newscasts or other programs. 

Research Writer/Editor 

The board may need a research The boad eed may a rsearchcoordinate writer/editor to manage the publications program (if any). These responsi- bilities may entail publishing a variety 

of documents-legislatively mandated 

and other reports, brochures, transcripts, guidebooks, and more-that require professional expertise to write, 

edit, and produce. A research 

writer/editor can assist the board by preparing such reports and presenta- tions, summarizing research findings and their applicability to seismic risk 

reduction and management. Moreover, 

this staff member may also prove necessary to develop and disseminate information on seismic safety to various 

audiences such as professional associations, as well as preparing press releases 

and responding to media inquiries. 

Planner/Program Analyst 

The board may very likely decide to establish a risk reduction and manage- ment program, that sets forth priorities, funding sources and amounts, project 

schedules, and risk reduction activities 

needed to significantly reduce earthquake risk. Implementing the specific 

risk reduction activities of such a program may require a planner or program 

analyst to promote, monitor, and integrate the ongoing earthquake risk reduction, emergency response, and disaster recovery projects comprising such 

a program, as well as the accomplishment of numerous specific program milestones. 

The program manager would 

advocate an ambitious agenda 

requiring the cooperative and active 

participation of diverse organizations 

and agencies. Progress on a number of 

activities will require action by both 

the governor and the legislature to 

establish policy assigning new 

responsibilities, granting new 

authority, and appropriating additional 

fiscal resources. The program manager 

could participate in and monitor the 

process of implementing of such a 

program. Such a person can function as 

a facilitator to integrate activities, individual actions, and codnt niiulatos n assist the primarily responsible agencies in every possible way. 

Administrative Manager 

If the board's staff becomes large enough, or if it administers numerous 

contracts, it may benefit from an 

administrative manager responsible for 

its administrative functions. An 

administrative manager's duties might also include the more difficult work in 

the areas of personnel, budgeting, 

contract administration, and managing the computer network, including determining its need for new 

equipment, software, and staff 

computer training. 

It bears emphasis that such a 

position may most likely only be 

warrantedfor boards with large staffs and 

significantprogrammaticresponsibilities, such as those that may confront a state 

with recurrent, periodic seismic activity 

or a consortium of states requiring oraion of state eiring 

integration of multi-state seismic safety 

activities over a broad geographic area. 

Staff Analyst 

As its programmatic responsibilities 

increase, the board may benefit from 

employing a staff analyst to assist in 

preparation of its annual budget and 

budget change proposals, and monitor 

its expenditures, prepare monthly budget forecasts and payrolls, and 

recommend expenditure alternatives to 

assure that the advisory board remains 

within its budget. 

F-4 
This staff member would also be an 

excellent choice to oversee the rental or 

leasing of office space, purchase of all 

goods and administrative services, and 

development of guidelines for routine 

purchasing activities to ensure 

compliance with appropriate 

purchasing procedures. He or she could 

also assist in drawing up contracts and 

interagency agreements, including 

contracts for program-related services, 

and oversee the day-to-day 

management of administrative service 

contracts and interagency agreements. 

Moreover a staff analyst can advise the 

board on costs and applications of 

employee benefits, and coordinates the 

board's records management program. 

F-S 
Appendix G 

Model Workshop Design 

Insert brief background statement 

explaining why the workshop is being 

convened] 

Purpose of Workshop 

[Insert a statement of workshop's 

purpose and expectations.] 

Strategic Planning Process 

To assist board members develop a 

consensus on it mission, goals, and 

priorities, and provide a frame work for 

a new multi-year earthquake risk 

reduction and management plan, 

strategic planning approach is adopted. 

The approach includes three phases. 

Phase I. Information 

Collection 

The objective of this phase is to obtain 

a current and comprehensive 

perspective on the board's mission and 

performance. This perspective is 

derived from one-on-one in-depth 

interviews with representatives of the 

constituency that are conducted by a 

trained professional. The result of this 

phase is the accumulation of issues, 

raised by those who are interviewed, 

that provide an assessment of the 

perceived strengths, weaknesses, 

opportunities, and obstacles associated 

with seismic safety efforts. The issues 

are grouped into dominant themes and 

presented to the workshop participants. 

Phase II. Evaluation and 

Integration 

After the issues raised during the data 

collection phase are presented and 

discussed, they will be categorized into 

actionable programs, i.e., actions that 

can be taken to address the needs 

identified by the issue(s). The outcome 

of this exercise should be a list of 

actionable programs or "action items" 

(there should be at least 15 of these) 

that the board may want to pursue in 

the next five years. Participants will 

break-up into small groups of no more 

than 5-7 people to develop the action 

items. The groups will be asked to 

address the following aspects for each 

action item: 

1. Assumptions: The basic premises for 

proposing the program; 

2. Objectives: The proposed outcome 

of program; 

3. Implementation Steps: The required 

research on foundations needed, a 

basic implementation strategy, and 

an evaluation mechanism. 

Each group will be assigned 2-3 

action items to develop. It will take 

each group 2-3 hours for each one. 

Once all of the action items have 

been developed, the workshop 

participants will prioritize the 

actionable programs according to such 

criteria as feasibility, projected 

resources listed in Chapter 9. 

The last exercise of this phase will 

be the formulation of the board's 

mission statement and goals. The 

mission statement should reflect the 

objectives given to the programs the 

project will attempt to implement in 

the next five years. 

Phase III. Strategic Policies 

The results of the workshop will be 

summarized and circulated for review 

before the board acts to adopt. It will 

contain a set of policies that can be 

used to draft of a comprehensive risk 

reduction and management plan. 
MODEL AGENDA FOR WORKSHOP 

Development of Multi-Year Risk Management Program 

[Location] 

[Date] 

I Agenda 

[Day 1: Date] 

1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Workshop Registration 

[Room Name] 

2:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. Workshop Opening 

[Room Name] 

* Welcome and Introductions 

[Name of Presenter] 

2:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. * Review workshop Objectives, 

Logistics and Agenda 

[Name of Presenter] 

2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Panel Presentation 

* Ten Year Retrospective 

[Name of Presenter] 

* Earthquake Risk 

[Name of Presenter 

* Goals and Objectives: Met/Unmet 

[Name of Presenter] 

3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. BREAK 

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Panel Presentation: 

* Mandated Programs and Future Funding 

[Name of Presenter] 

5:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Review Strategic Planning Process 

[Strategic Planner] 

6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. DINNER 

7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Present and Discuss Results of Information 

Collection Phase 

[Room Name] 

[Strategic Planner] 

Categorize Results into Actionable Programs 

Board and Staff 

G-2 
[Day 2 Date] 

7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. 

8:45 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. 

9:15 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. 

11:00 a.m. - 11:10, a.m. 

11:10, a.m. - 12:00 p.m. 

12:00, p.m. 

1:30 p.m. -

2:30 p.m. -

4:00 p.m. -

4:30 p.m. -

6:3'0 p.m. -

7:30 p.m. 

- 1:00 p.m. 

2:30 p.m. 

4:00 p.m. 

4:30 p.m. 

6:30 p.m. 

7:30 p.m. 

BREAKFAST BUFFET 

[Room Name] 

Review Process for Development of 

Action Programs 

[Room Name] 

[Strategic Planner] 

Formation of Break-out 

GroupslRoom assignments For 

Break-out groups 

Board and Staff 

Break-out Groups 

Deliberations: First Session 

[Room Name] 

Transition to Meeting Room 

Reports Prom First Session 

Break-out groups 

[Room Name] 

LUNCH 

[Room Name] 

continuation of First Session 

Reports 

[Room Name] 

Break-out Groups Deliberations: Second Session 

[Room Name] 

BREAK 

[Room Name] 

Reports from Second Session Break-out groups 

[Room Name] 

Reception - Informal Discussions 

[Room Namne] 

BARBECUE DINNER 

[Room Name] 

G-3 
[Day Three, Date] 

7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. BREAKFAST BUFFET 

[Room Name] 

9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Prioritizing of Action Programs 

[Room Name] 

[Strategic Planner] 

10:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. BREAK 

10:15 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Formulate Mission Statement 

11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Room Check-out 

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. LUNCH 

[Room Name] 

1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Presentation of Priorities List 

- [Room Name] 

2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Workshop Wrap-up and Next Steps 

G-4

A workshop was held January 25-26, 

1993, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to assess 

and suggest amendments to be 

incorporated into the final draft of this 

manual. The Seismic Safety 

Commission gratefully acknowledges 

all those who assisted in this endeavor. 

Arizona 

Reginald A. Yates 

Earthquake Program Manager 

Arizona Department of 

Emergency and Military Affairs 

Division of Emergency Services 

5636 E. Mc-Dowell Rd 

Phoenix, AZ 85008


Phone: (602) 231-6238


Fax: (602) 231-6231


Arkanas 

Jack DuBose 

Deputy Director 

Arkansas Office of Emergency 

Services 

PO Box 758


Conway, AR 72032-0758


(501) 329-5601


Fax: (501) 327-8047


Dan Cicirello 

Earthquake Preparedness 

Supervisor 

Arkansas Office of Emergency 

Services 

PO Box 758


Conway, AR 72032-0758


(501) 329-5601


Fax: (501) 327-8047


California 

Timothy C. Cronin 

Staff Counsel/Project Manager 

California Seismic Safety 

Commission 

1900 K St., Ste. 100


Sacramento, CA 95814


H-1


Appendix H 

Workshop Roster


(916) 327-1737


Fax: (916)1 322-9476


Ter DeVriend 

Staff Services Analyst 

California Seismic Safety 

Commission 

19001 K St., Ste. 100


Sacramento, CA 95814


(916) 323-4211


Fax: (916) 322-9476


Paula Schulz 

Earthquake Program Manager 

California Office of Emergency 

Services 

101 8th St.' Ste. 152


Oakland, CA 94607


(510) 540-2713


Fax: (510) 540-3581


Cheryl Tateishi 

Earthquake Program Manager 

California Office of Emergency 

Services 

1110 East Green St., Ste. 300


Pasadena, CA 91106


(818) 304-8383


Fax: (818) 304-8398


L. Thomas, Tobin 

Executive Director 

California Seismic Safety 

Commission 

1900 K St., Ste. 100


Sacramento, CA 95814


(916) 322-4917


Fax: (916) 322-9476

Central United States 

Earthquake Consortium 

(CUSEC) 

Harvey Ryland 

Executive Director 

Central United States 

Earthquake Consortium 

2630 E. Holmes Rd. 

Memphis, TN 38118 

(901) 345-0932 

Fax: (901) 345-0998 

FEM[A 

Donna Dannels 

Emergency Management Officer 

Federal Emergency Management 

Agency 

Office of Earthquakes and 

Natural Hazards 

Federal Center Plaza 

500 C St., SW 

Washington, DC 20472 

(202) 646-3662 

Fax: (202) 646-3104 

IdalIo 

Stephen Weiser 

Earthquake Program Manager 

Bureau of Disaster Services 

650 West State St. 

Boise, ID 83720 

(208) 334-3460 

Fax: (208) 334-2322 

Illinois 

Robert B. Olshansky 

Assistant Professor 

University of Illinois 

at Urbana-Champaign 

Department of Urban and 

Regional Planning 

907 1/2 West Nevada St. 

Urbana, IL 61801 

(217) 333-3890 

Fax: (217) 244-1717 

Nevada 

James Goodfellow 

Earthquake Program Manager 

Division of Emergency 

Management 

Capitol Complex 

2525 South Carson St 

Carson City, NV 89710 

(702) 687-4240 

Fax: (702) 687-6788 

New England States 

Earthquake Consortium 

Louis H. Klotz 

Executive Director 

New England States Earthquake 

Consortium 

501 Islington St. 

Portsmouth, NH 03801 

(603) 430-9876 

Fax: (603) 430-9875 

New York 

John Gibb 

Earthquake Program Supervisor 

State Emergency Management 

Office 

Public Security Building 

No. 22 State Campus 

Albany, NY 12226-5000 

(518) 457-9960 

Fax: (518) 457-9930 

Oregon 

David S. Mayer 

State Earthquake Program 

Coordinator 

Metropolitan Service District 

2000 SW First Ave. 

Portland, OR 97201-5398 

(503) 221-1646 

Fax: (503) 273-5585 

South Carolina 

Bob Clithero 

Earthquake Program Manager 

Emergency Preparedness 

Division 

1429 Senate St. 

Columbia, SC 29201 

(803) 734-8020 

Fax: (803) 734-8062 

H-2 
Fax: (801) 581-7065


Utah 

Fred May 

Natural Hazards Program 

Manager 

Utah Comprehensive 

Emergency Management 

State Office Building, Rm. 1110


Salt Lake City, UT 84114


(801) 538-3758


Fax: (801) 538-3770


Bob Carey 

Earthquake Program Manager 

Utah Comprehensive 

Emergency Management 

State Office Building, Rm. 1110


Salt Lake City, UT 84114


(801) 538-3400


Fax: (801) 538-3770


.Caryn Johnson 

Natural Hazards, Intern 

Utah Comprehensive 

Emergency Management 

State Office Building, Rm. 1110


Salt Lake City, UT 84114


(801) 538-3400


Fax: (801) 538-3770


Utah Earthquake Advisory 

Board 

Walter J.. Arabasz 

Director 

University of Utah Seismograph 

Stations 

705 W. C. Browning Bldg. 

Salt Lake City, UT 84112


(801) 581-6274


David Curtis 

Past President 

Structural Engineers Association 

of Utah 

Curtis Engineering 

366 South 500 East 

Salt Lake City, UT 84102


(801) 531-1173


Fax: (801)328-2060 

James Golden 

Assistant Chief Structural 

Engineer 

Structures Division 

Department of Transportation 

4501 South 2700 West 

Salt Lake City, UT 84119


(801) 965-4191


Fax: (801) 965-4338


Steven M. Klass 

Deputy State Planning 

Coordinator 

Governor's Office of Planning 

and Budget 

116 State Capitol 

Salt Lake City, UT 84114


(801) 538-1556


Fax: (801) 538-1547


T. Leslie Youd 

Professor 

Department of Civil Engineering 

Brigh am Young University 

3 70 Clyde Bldg.


Provo, UT 84602


(801) 378-2811


Fax: (801) 378-4449


H-3

Appendix I 

Existing Seisnic Safety Advisory Boards 

Indiana Seismic Safety Advisory Board Arizona Indiana State Emergency Management 

Arizona Council for Earthquake Safety Agency 

Arizona Department of Emergency and IN GOVT CTR Sf302 W. Washington St. 

Military Affairs E208 

Division of Emergency Services Indianapolis, IN 46204 

5636 E. McDowell Rd. (317) 232-3986 

Phoenix, AZ 85008 FAX (317) 232-3895 

Phone: (602) 231-6238 

Fax: (602) 231-6231 Kentucky 

Governor's Earthquake Hazards & Safety Arkansas Technical Advisory Panel 

Arkansas Earthquake Advisory Council Kentucky Division of Div. of Disaster & 

Arkansas Office of Emergency Services Emergency Services 

P.O. Box 758 EOC Building, Boone Center 

Conway, AR 72032-0758 Frankfort, KE 40506 

(5011) 329-5601 (502) 564-8611 

Fax: (501) 327-8047 

Mississippi 

California Mississippi Seismic Advisory Panel 

Seismic Safety Commission Mississippi Emergency Management 

1900 K St.) Ste. 100 Agency 

Sacramento, CA 95814 P.O. Box 4501, Fondren Station 

(916) 322-4917 Jackson, MS 39216 

Fax: (916) 322-9476 (601) 352-9100 

Central United States Earthquake Missouri 

Consortium (CUSEC) Missouri Earthquake Hazard Mitigation 

Central United States Earthquake Panel 

Consortium Missouri Emergency Management Agency 

2630 E. Holmes Rd. P.O. Box 116 

Memphis, TN 38118 Jefferson City, MO 65102 

(901) 345-0932 (314) 751-9779 

Fax: (901) 345-0998 FAX (314) 634-7966 

Eawaii Nevada 

Hawaii State Earthquake Advisory Board -Nevada Seismic Safety Council 

Office of the Director of Civil Defense Division of Emergency Management 

3949 Diamond Head Road Capitol Complex 

Honolulu, HA 96816-4495 2525 South Carson St. 

(808) 734-2161 Carson City, NV 89710 

Fax: (808) 737-4150 (702) 687-4240 

Fax: (702) 687-6788 

Illinois 

Illinois Earthquake Advisory Board New England States Earthquake 

Illinois Emergency Services & Disaster Consortium (NESEC) 

Agency New England States Earthquake 

110 East Adams St. Consortium 

Springfield, IL 62706 501 Islington St 

(217) 782-4448 Portsmouth, NH 03801 

(603) 430-9876 

Indiana Fax: (603) 430-9875 

I-1 
Oregon 

Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory 

Committee 

595 Cottage St., NE 

Salem, OR 97310 

(503) 378-2903 

Fax: (503) 588-1378 

Puerto Rico 

Comision de Seguridad Contra 

Terremotos 

Pda. 3 1/2 Ave. Munoz Rivera 

Pta. de Tierra Apartado Correo 5887 

SanJuan, PR 00906 

(809) 722-8784 

Fax: (809) 725-0350 

South Carolina 

South Carolina Seismic Safety Consortium 

Dept. of Civil Engineering The Citadel 

Charleston, SC 29401 

(803) 797-4208 

Southeastern United States Seismic 

Safety Consortium 

Southeastern United States Seismic Safety Consortium 

Dept. of Civil Engineering 

The Citadel 

Charleston, SC 29401 

(803) 797-4208 

Tennessee 

Tennessee Seismic Safety Advisory Panel 

Tennessee Emergency Management

Agency 

Tennessee EOC 

3041 Sidco Dr. 

Nashville, TN 37204-1502 

(615) 252-3311 

Utah 

Utah Earthquake Advisory Board 

University of Utah Seismograph Stations 

705 W. C. Browning Bldg. 

Salt Lake City, UT 84112 

(801) 581-6274 

Fax: (801) 581-7065 

Washington 

Washington State Seismic Safety Advisory 

Committee 

Washington State Dept. of Natural 

Resources 

Geology & Earth Resources Division 

P.O. Box 47007 

Olympia, WA 98504-7007 

(206) 902-1000 

Fax: (206) 902-1785 

1-2 
End user-Persons and organizations 

who are responsible for implementing 

risk reduction activities; those who receive and use the results of the professional work products of practicing 

engineers and geotechlical scientists, 

researchers, etc., including school 

teachers, emergency response and 

building officials, insurance and construction companies, homeowners, and 

the general public. 

Hazard-An act or phenomenon that 

has the potential to produce harm or 

other undesirable consequences to 

some person or thing. 

Hazardous structure-Astructure or 

edifice whose condition creates an 

imminent danger of physical injury, 

harm, or damage to some person or 

thing within or nearby it. 

Nonstructuralhazard-A condition or 

phenomenon in an edifice or structure, 

such as non-load-bearin g architectural 

elements and mechanical and electrical 

components of the building system, 

that is unrelated to its construction or 

structure that has the potential to 

produce hanm or other undesirable 

consequences to some person or thing 

within or nearby it. 

Risk-The probability that the potential 

harm or undesirable consequences of a 

hazard will be realized; the convolution 

of the hazard and the vulnerability. 

Risk management-The evaluation of 

alternative risk control actions, 

Appendix J 

Lexicon of Terms 

selection among them (including doing 

nothing and their implementation. 

Includes predicting damaging events 

and their effects, and reducing the 

vulnerability of facilities, improving 

emergency response and recovery, etc. 

Seismic safety-The condition of being 

reasonably free or secure from 

earthquake-related danger, harm, 

injury, or economic loss. 

Stakeholders-Individuals, agencies, and 

entities, in both the private and the 

public sectors, with earthquake-related 

responsibilities who have significant 

influence on seismic risk management 

efforts. 

Strturalhazard-A structural 

condition or phenomenon, such as 

parts of a building that bear vertical 

gravity loads or lateral seismic forces, or 

both, in an edifice or structure that has 

the potential to produce harm or other 

undesirable consequences to some 

person or thing within or nearby it. 

User-Persons and organizations who 

are responsible for formulating risk 

reduction activities; those who use and 

communicate their knowledge in their 

professional work products including 

government policy makers, practicing 

engineers and geotedhnical scientists, 

researchers, etc. 

Vulnerability-Susceptibility to physical 

injury, harm, damage, damage, or 

economic loss. 

J-i 
Appendix K 

California Seismic Safety Commission


The California Seismic Safety Commission, under contract to the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency, developed this document. The commission's 

staff counsel, Timothy Cronin was project director. As stated in the 

acknowledgments, many others contributed to the shaping of the work. 

Wilfred D. Iwan LeRoy Crandall Barbara Cram Riordan 

Chairman Soils Engineering Local Government 

Mechanical Engineering 

Senator Alfred E. Alquist Morgan Davis James E. Slossen 

(Chris Lindstrom) Insurance Geology State Senate 

Hal Bernson Paul F. Fratessa Stanley Scott 

Local Government Structural Engineer Local Government 

Bruce A. Bolt Robert E. McCarthy Patricia Snyder Seismology Local Government Volunteer Organizations 

Lloyd S. Cluff Gary L. McGavin Frances E. Winslow 

Utilities Architecture & Planning Emergency Services 

Assemblyman James F. McMullen 

Dominic L. Cortese Fire Services 

(Tom White) 

State Assembly 

Commission Staff 

L. Thomas Tobin Karen Cogan Minda Gosslin 

Executive Director Rita Darden Ed Hensley Word Processing Richard McCarthy Timothy G. Cronin, Esq. Teri DeVriend Staff Counsel/Project Manager Kathy Goodell 

Fred Turner 

U.S. G0VrŽ122NT PRINTIN OFFICE. 1997-519-602t90044 K-1