Subcommittees

EERI SESI Subcommittees are open to any EERI member, and are tasked to achieve various actions and activities of the program. Each Subcommittee will be lead by a Subcommittee Chair. If you are interested in joining a subcommittee, please email the associated Chair listed below.

• Safety Screening, Inventory, and Evaluation of Schools
• Classroom Education and Outreach
• Tsunami Mitigation for Schools
• Code Updating and Improvements
• Safety Advocacy and Messaging

Safety Screening, Inventory, and Evaluation of Schools

Chair: Ken Goettel Members: David Bonowitz, Phil Gould, Karen Izumoto, Heidi Tremayne Charge: Facilitate and encourage implementation of risk reduction measures by developing and helping to carry out stepwise screening methodologies to identify school buildings with the highest seismic risk efficiently while minimizing the effort and expense for school districts.

Products:

• Case Studies of Successful U.S. School Seismic Screening Programs, V1.0, December 2016 [PDF]
• The Washington Schools Earthquake Performance Assessment Tool (EPAT) is designed to help school districts better understand the seismic vulnerability of their school buildings. The goal is to help districts prioritize the limited resources available for seismic evaluations and retrofits on the buildings most likely to pose the highest risks for life safety, severe damage and extended downtimes for repairs in future earthquakes.
  • EPAT User Guide [PDF]: By Kenneth A. Goettel, Cale Ash, and Erica Fischer
    EPAT Quick Start Checklist for Data Entry, August 10, 2017 [PDF]: Checklist for Data Entry
  • Washington Schools EPAT for prioritizing building retrofit, August 10, 2017 [XLS]: Earthquake Performance Assessment Tool (EPAT)
  • Appendix 1: FEMA Hazus MH 2.1 Earthquake Technical Manual: Building Types [PDF]: A general description of each of the 16 structural systems of model building types
  • Appendix 2: FEMA Hazus MH 2.1 Earthquake Technical Manual: Damage States [PDF]: Damage State Descriptions for Seismic Fragility Curves
  • Washington State Building Code History, February 9, 2017 [PDF]: By Cale Ash, Erica Fischer, and Kenneth Goettel
  • EPAT Results, Okanogan Chelan Schools [XLS]

Classroom Education and Outreach

Co-Chair: Thalia Anagnos Co-Chair: Lelli Van Den Einde Members: Vince Pericoli, Mary Fatih Silva, Heidi Tremayne, Eddie Vega, Ivan Wong, James Mallard, Alex Lee, Zoe Yin, Cindy Qian, Zahraa Saiyed, Barbara Simpson  Charge: Use education in the classroom to create on ongoing dialog with parents, teachers, and administrators and to develop advocates for earthquake school safety. Bring together EERI regional and student chapters to collaborate on delivering the activities and serving as expert resources for stakeholders.

Visit the Classroom Education and Outreach website for more information

Tsunami Mitigation for Schools

Chair: Chair pending, Yumei Wang and Heidi Tremayne are the  current contacts Members: Veronica Cedillos, Greg Deierlein, Lori Dengler, Doug Dougherty, Lesley Ewing, Hermann Fritz, Sue Graves, Karen Izumoto, Manuel Lugo, Kevin Miller, Cindy Pridmore, Jay Raskin, Kevin Richards, Althea Rizzo, Ian Robertson, Zahraa Saiyed, John Schelling, Jeri Siegel, Tom Tobin, Heidi Tremayne, Yumei Wang, Jay Wilson, Rick Wilson, Harry Yeh Charge: Support schools with tsunami hazard by provide them access to experts and sharing best practices for tsunami risk mitigation. Products:

• List of U.S. K-12 Schools in Tsunami Evacuation Zones, Version 1.0, March 2017 (.xlxs file)
• Tsunami Preparedness Checklist for K-12 School Administrators and Principals, Version 1.0, October 2016 (.pdf file)
• Activity Update Letter to Coastal Zone Foundation, dated July 26, 2016 (.pdf file)
• SESI Tsunami Resources List V1 (.pdf file)
• Advocacy for Tsunami Mitigation and Preparedness of U.S. schools along the “Pacific Rim” 16 World Conference on Earthquake Engineering paper #4924 (.pdf file)

Code Updating and Improvements

Chair: Rob Jackson Members: Bill Holmes, Karen Izumoto, Mike Mahoney (ex officio), Sissy Nikolaou, Gary Patterson, Menzer Pehlivan, Alissa Tan, Heidi Tremayne, Barry Welliver, Guillermo Diaz-Fanas Charge: Advocate for code improvements, refinement and/or implementation practices that will enhance school safety and use after major earthquakes.

Safety Advocacy and Messaging

Chair: Lucy Arendt Members: David Bonowitz, Karen Izumoto, Heidi Tremayne, Dorian Tung, Barry Welliver Charge: Bridge the communication gap between technical professionals and non-technical partners and stakeholders interested in earthquake risk reduction for schools.