Thursday, 25 February 2021

This webinar, hosted by the EERI Northern California Regional Chapter and the EERI Learning from Earthquakes Program, provided an overview of the M6.2 earthquake that caused widespread damage to buildings and infrastructure. Hundreds of thousands of people were affected and at least 100 were killed. Speakers included experts from the Institut Teknologi Bandung, BNPB (National Disaster Management Agency), and BMKG (National Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency).

Thursday, 4 February 2021
Cost: Free

This webinar, hosted by the EERI Northern California Regional Chapter, focused on the December 29, 2020, Croatia earthquake. The M6.4 quake was the strongest recorded in Croatia in 140 years and struck about 30 miles southeast of the capital Zagreb. The earthquake caused widespread damage to buildings and infrastructure, killed at least seven people, and affected hundreds of thousands. This quick briefing provided an overview of the earthquake and first-hand accounts of its aftermath.

Thursday, November 19 at 12 am PT / 3 pm ET  
Cost: Free for EERI members and non-members (PDH hours included upon request)

The EERI Northern California Regional Chapter (EERI-NC) is hosting a webinar series on how the current COVID-19 pandemic can affect the earthquake community. This webinar will feature a panel discussion on the impacts of earthquakes on infection rates and actions immediately following earthquakes in Europe (Portugal and Croatia). Attention will be placed on lessons learned that may be important for the United States.

Two of our panelists will give a brief summary of their recent article in Earthquake Spectra titled, “Potential Impact of Earthquakes during the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic.” Another two of our panelists were in Zagreb during the March 2020 earthquake (M5.5) and will provide eye-witness accounts. Bruce Maison, Consulting Engineer & EERI-NC Board Member, and Rob Olshansky, Professor Emeritus of University of Illinois & EERI-NC Board Member, will moderate the panel.

SPEAKERS

Vitor Silva is the Risk Coordinator of the Global Earthquake Model Foundation in Pavia, Italy, and an Associate Professor at the University Fernando Pessoa in Porto, Portugal. His research focuses on the development of open-access models and open-source tools, some of which are currently being extensively used by the public and private sector. 

Nicole Paul is a Risk Modeller at the Global Earthquake Model Foundation, where she is involved with the Modelling Exposure Through Earth Observation Routines project (focused on Nepal and Tanzania), Regional Risk for European Union Member States, and the Global Risk Model. Prior to GEM, Nicole worked at Arup's San Francisco office. 

Nenad Bijelić is a postdoctoral researcher in the Resilient Steel Structures Laboratory (RESSLab) at EPFL, Switzerland. In 2012, he received the Fulbright Science and Technology award to study earthquake engineering in the United States. His research is in the area of structural and earthquake engineering, focusing on the dynamics of nonlinear systems and the application of statistical and machine learning tools.

Josip Atalić is a licensed civil engineer and a member of the Croatian Chamber of Civil Engineers. He led a team of experts for the National Risk Assessment in the Republic of Croatia - Seismic Risk — a risk management capability assessment and national strategy in cooperation with the National Protection and Rescue Directorate and Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning of Republic of Croatia (2014-2018). 

Wednesday, October 28 at 11 am PT / 2 pm ET  
Cost: Free for EERI members and non-members (PDH hours included upon request)

Presented by the EERI Younger Members Committee, this webinar will introduce how you may take steps to become a seismic safety policy advocate. While getting started in advocacy may seem daunting, advocating for seismic safety policy and advocacy is an important facet of EERI members' expertise and professional practice. The discussion will cover the recently released Citizen Advocate Toolkit, explaining government structures and guides for interacting with representatives and policymakers.

We will review case studies of past and current seismic safety-related laws, ordinances, and bills, and provide information on how to best communicate science and engineering concepts to non-technical audiences. The webinar will also cover what it’s like to work with and for a public agency on various types of policies, and leave you with actions you can take today in progressing seismic safety in your locale and state.

Speakers

Jack English is a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, earning a dual degree M.S. in Civil Engineering and Master of Public Affairs. He obtained a dual B.S./B.A. degree in Civil Engineering and Political Science from Case Western Reserve University in 2018. He has worked for members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and the California Assembly. He currently serves on the EERI Public Policy & Advocacy Committee, its California Subcommittee, and as the PPA liaison to the YMC. A native of San Francisco, Jack seeks to improve resilience implementation across levels of government by bridging the gap between policy development and engineering.

Zahraa Saiyed is a disaster risk reduction and public policy consultant with background and training as an architect, building scientist, structural engineer, and educator based in California. Zahraa’s domestic and international work ranges from anticipatory design projects, designing sustainable and resilient built environments, developing practice and personal preparedness guidance, and policy evaluation and development for seismic risk reduction at the federal, state, and local level. She leads EERI’s Public Policy and Advocacy Committee, is a member of the Western States Seismic Policy Council’s (WSSPC) Building Engineering, Construction and Building Codes Committee, and is a member of the Infrastructure Policy committee with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Zahraa’s legislative advocacy has ranged from seismic safety and preparedness, to equity in the workplace, as well as medical consumer rights for public health and wellness. She is a co-founder and principal of Scyma Consulting LLC located in the Bay Area, and is an adjunct professor of Architecture and Community Design at the University of San Francisco.

Join us for a special three-part webinar series, “Applying Lessons Learned from COVID-19 to Earthquake Preparedness,” presented by the EERI San Diego Regional Chapter.

Global pandemics and large earthquakes don’t occur often, yet they can produce enormous human and economic losses. Current experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic can be useful for discussing and preparing for these “low frequency/high risk” events. Although our scientific knowledge and technology are better now than they have ever been, COVID-19 has posed tremendous challenges for the world in the past six months despite attempts to prepare for events such as this. This webinar series will explore lessons from the pandemic that can help us prepare for earthquakes.

EERI’s webinar series is made possible with support from FEMA under cooperative agreement EMW-2020-CA-00029-S01. The series is also sponsored by RMA Companies.

First webinar: Using Scenarios for Preparedness: Comparing Pandemics and Earthquakes
Friday, October 16, 12 pm PT / 3 pm ET.

Scenarios are useful planning tools to help us prepare for future events, particularly events that have a low frequency of occurrence, but a high risk of losses, such as large earthquakes and global pandemics. Several public health scenarios were developed in recent years to better understand and prepare for a global pandemic, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This webinar discusses the outcomes and conclusions of these scenarios, comparing our current experiences with COVID-19 and existing earthquake scenarios to improve earthquake preparedness in our community.

Second Webinar: Common Challenges Preparing for Low Frequency/High-Risk Events (Earthquakes and Pandemics)
Friday, October 30, 12 pm PT / 3 pm ET

Preparing and planning for events that have a low frequency of occurrence, but a high-risk of loss associated with them can have a number of obstacles. These obstacles include changing public perception of risk, communicating information to a non-scientific population, obtaining sustained political and financial support, amongst many others. Panelists will discuss these challenges in the context of our current experiences with COVID-19. The webinar will also discuss how learning from the failures and successes of our experiences with COVID-19 will help counter similar challenges in planning for earthquakes and developing more seismically resilient communities.  

Third Webinar: Next Steps for Earthquake Preparedness in the San Diego Community
Friday, November 13, 12 pm PT / 3 pm ET |

Developing communities that are more earthquake-resilient and better prepared for large disasters takes time, resources, and lots of planning. This webinar will focus on how to prepare in our community, looking at outreach, developing a group of stakeholders, and identifying short-term and long-term goals for San Diego.  This webinar is intended to be more interactive, with discussion amongst stakeholders. The basis for this discussion will be the San Diego Earthquake Scenario released in March, 2020 before the pandemics hit the San Diego region.