- Author
-
Todd, D. R.
|
Morelli, U.
- Title
- Adoption of Seismic Standards for Federal Buildings: Issues and Implications.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, DC
- Book or Conf
- Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. Earthquake Awareness and Mitigation Across the Nation. U.S. National Conference, Fifth (5th). Proceedings. Volume 2. July 10-14, 1994,
Chicago, IL,
995-1003 p.,
1994
- Keywords
-
earthquakes
|
standards
|
safety
|
costs
|
rehabilitation
- Identifiers
- National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP)
- Abstract
- Public Law 101-614 (the NEHRP Reauthorization Act) requires the President to adopt "standards for assessing and enhancing the seismic safety of exsiting buildings constructed for or leased by the Federal government" by December 1, 1994. The formulation of public policy to comply with this laudable and far-reaching Congressional mandate was made especially difficult by a combination of a scarcity of technical and economic data and the strict time constraint. This paper describes the process used during development of the required standards to identify and resolve key issues, and identifies implications of adoption of the standards. The lack of sufficiently reliable cost data on seismic rehabilitation ultimately led to the rejection of an active risk-reduction program in favor of a more limited, passive program for Federal buildings. As more accurate cost data become available, the development and implementaion of an active program will become more likely.