Earthquake risk assessment can probabilistically and numerically express potential seismic losses of the built environment.  This risk information can be used to enhance disaster resilience such as prioritized building retrofit implementation, earthquake recovery planning, and disaster risk management policy making.  Two case studies will be presented, including seismic risk assessments for the city Pasto, Colombia, and the public school system in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.  The processes used to estimate building damage, casualties and debris volume will be presented.  Example building retrofit guidelines will also be presented along with the methodology used to prioritize their implementation for optimal efficacy.

Speaker Info: Dr. Tom Nifuku is an expert for disaster-risk assessment and resilience enhancement of structures and infrastructure systems.  He developed MiyamotoQuake, which provides advanced probabilistic analysis of earthquake risks to structures.  Using MiyamotoQuake and other risk assessment tools, he works with many international organizations, such as World Bank, USAID, United Nations, and international governments and municipalities to evaluate and help manage seismic risks for regions such as Haiti, Mongolia, Latin Americas, Myanmar, Nepal and the U.S.  His approach to seismic risk analysis has led to the authorship of several technical publications covering business continuity planning and highway network recovery.  He has worked in the structural and seismic risk engineering industry for over 20 years.  He earned advanced degrees from Waseda University in Tokyo and University of California, Irvine, and he is a licensed professional engineer in California and Japan.

Sponsorship Opportunity

The ASCE Capital Branch is pleased to announce an opportunity for the Civil Engineering Firms, Contractors and Vendors to sponsor ASCE’s monthly Luncheons. The sponsoring company will have the opportunity to make a brief presentation that is 3 to 5 minutes long and is supported by a few slides in PowerPoint format.  This opportunity will provide the sponsoring company a great marketing opportunity to the local engineering community.  For further information, please contact Jai Singh at (916) 580-9725.