Chris Poland to Speak at the Los Angeles International Earthquake Conference
The City of Los Angeles is hosting an International Earthquake Conference (http://iec.lacity.org/) November 12-14, 2008, focusing on policy, planning, and preparedness, in partnership with the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative and in conjunction with the Great Southern California ShakeOut (http://www.shakeout.org/).
Chris Poland, CEO and Chair of Degenkolb Engineers will speak alongside former Councilman Hal Bernson who will talk about the URM process LA undertook in the 1980s and Craig Comartin, president of President of CDComartin, Inc. to talk about the work of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s (EERI) Concrete Coalition.
The focus of Poland’s talk will be how the successful growth of healthy cities and their economic development is rooted in contemporary urban planning, sustainability and disaster resilience. Today’s seismic hazard maps, performance based building codes, and integrated emergency response plans all contribute to the disaster resilience that is needed, but are missing the goal because of a universal misunderstanding that blocks implementation. Poland asserts that to break the stalemate, a transparent message needs to be crafted that is broad-based, uses terms that name the hazard, define performance, and establishes a set of performance goals that provide a built environment to support a city’s natural ability to rebound from a major seismic event. Poland will discuss work done by San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR) to sort out the issues, determine the options and put forward a coordinated set of policy recommendations.
Chris Poland’s structural engineering career spans 30 years and includes a wide variety of new building designs and rehabilitation projects. A passionate seismic safety advocate, he actively participates in the academic, ethical and social advancement of his field. He currently presides as Chair of the congressionally mandated Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards Reduction for the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program and is Chairman of the Strong Motion Advisory Committee for the California Seismic Safety Commission. He served as President of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) from 2001 to 2002, and is a member of Boards of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association. He is the 2006 recipient of the Alfred E. Alquist award from the California Earthquake Safety Foundation and is the 2008 SSA/EERI Joyner lecturer.
