Summary Minutes
Nevada Earthquake Safety Council
19 November 1999
The Nevada Earthquake Safety Council (NESC) met from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on 19 November 1999 at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Ron Lynn chaired the meeting.
Individuals attending the meeting are members of the Council:
Ron Lynn*, Clark County Building Department
John Anderson*, Nevada Seismological Laboratory
Mike Blakely*, Blakely, Johnson, and Ghusn
Wayne Carlson*, Nevada Public Agency Insurance Pool
William Cox*, Austin High School
Bob Cullins*, Las Vegas Fire Department
Larry Johnson*, Black Eagle Consulting Inc.
Bill Lowry*, Public Utilities Commission
Barbara Luke*, UNLV Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Jon Price*, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Jim Reagan*, Sierra Pacific Power Company
Burt Slemmons*, University of Nevada, Reno (retired, Las Vegas consultant)
Charles P. Watson*, Advanced Geological Exploration and Seismo-Watch
Jawhar Bouabid, Durham Technologies, Inc., Atlanta, GA
Ian Buckle, UNR Center for Civil Engineering Earthquake Research
Jim Buika, FEMA, Region IX, San Francisco
Craig dePolo, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, with the proxy for Mark
James*, Nevada State Senator
Diane dePolo, Nevada Seismological Laboratory
Terri Garside, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Ron Hess, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Rick Martin, Nevada Division of Emergency Management (DEM)
Troy Martin, Nevada Department of Transportation
Julie Mitchell, Heart N Soul Production
Greg Moss, Moss Group
Gary Norris, UNR Department of Civil Engineering
Rebecca Ossa, State Historic Preservation Office
Bert Prescott, Nevada Division of Emergency Management
Deborah Rengler, FEMA, Carson City
Doug Smith, Nevada Public Agency Insurance Pool
Diana Todd, Engineering Consultant, Silver Spring, Maryland
Jim Werle, representing Mike Klein*, Converse Consultants
Steve Williams, Nevada Highway Patrol
Raj Siddharthan, UNR Department of Civil Engineering
* indicates member of the Board of Directors.
A quorum of directors (the necessary 11) was present.
Board Members unable to attend or send a proxy included:
Bernie Anderson*, Nevada State Assemblyman
Norm Denny*, Douglas County
Greg Flanigan*, Farmers Insurance
Margie Gunn*, Lincoln County Office of Emergency Management
Steven Horsford*, R & R, Advertising and the Nevada Resort Association
Michael Lynch*, Builders Association of Northern Nevada
The minutes from the meeting on 27 August 1999 were approved.
Ron Lynn thanked Diana Todd and Jawhar Bouabid, who came to Nevada at the request of NESC to present workshops (on 18 and 20 November 1999) on assessments of earthquake safety of existing buildings and on FEMA's HAZUS loss estimation model, respectively. He also thanked Jim Buika and others from FEMA for their assistance in arranging for these workshops.
Awareness and Education Committee
The Committee did not meet during the quarter but did complete the Nevada 2000 Earthquake Safety Calendar. A written report of the committee is attached to these minutes.
February 20-26, 2000 will be Earthquake Awareness and Preparedness Week, and a statewide earthquake drill will be held on Wednesday, February 23, 2000.
Response and Recovery Committee
Bob Cullins reported that the DEM will be hosting at three-day workshop to train trainers for Community Emergency Response Teams, Jan 24-26, 2000. Contact DEM for details.
Engineering and Architecture Committee
Mike Blakely reported that his office will undertake a non-structural hazard mitigation project at a nonprofit child-care center. He will communicate with Diane dePolo to get television coverage that can then be used during Earthquake Awareness and Preparedness Week.
Geoscience Committee
Burt Slemmons stated that the bulk of the committee's activities in the last quarter were with the subcommittee looking at guidelines for evaluating liquefaction hazards in Nevada.
Raj Siddharthan reported that progress is being made on guidelines for liquefaction investigations. A draft has been circulated to consultants in northern and southern Nevada, initially through sections of the Great Basin and Southwestern Sections of the Association of Engineering Geologist. A draft was made available to the Council. Interested individuals can contact Terri Garside for a copy.
Larry Johnson noted that with the new NEHRP probabilistic seismic hazard maps there may be a higher than previously recognized liquefaction hazard. He advocated that broad discussion take place within the consulting community before proposing the liquefaction guidelines to the Council for consideration. The report will be reviewed by members of the full Geoscience Committee and presented to the Council at a future meeting.
At the Council's last meeting, Jim Werle and Barbara Luke agreed to contact the Consulting Engineering Council to seek their review and endorsement of the draft liquefaction guidelines.
ACTION ITEM: Ron Lynn charged the Liquefaction Subcommittee to contact the northern and southern Nevada chapters of ACEC and other groups to try to reach consensus on the guidelines.
Risk Mitigation Committee
Craig dePolo talked about the Nevada Earthquake Risk Mitigation Awards. A nomination form is attached to these minutes, along with a report from the committee. The deadline is December 18, 1999. Awards will be presented during Earthquake Awareness and Preparedness Week.
Craig distributed a draft of the document on living with earthquakes in Nevada. The committee will try to have newspapers print this as a supplement.
Craig suggested that Saturday of Earthquake Awareness and Preparedness Week would be a good day to focus on nonstructural mitigation in homes.
Jim Buika said that FEMA asked for mitigation successes be written up in the format of FEMA's Web page (www.fema.gov).
ACTION ITEM: Ron Lynn charged the Risk Mitigation Committee to prepare quarterly mitigation success stories, with appropriate photographs or other graphics, and present them to the Council for inclusion in the quarterly minutes, which are sent to FEMA.
Jim Buika said that the NESC calendar is a model for the nation.
ACTION ITEM: Terri Garside will make sure that Jim Buika receives an electronic version of the calendar.
Strategic Planning Committee
Jim Reagan reported that the committee will be asking other committees to update their contributions for preparation of the NESC annual report. The committee also will work on updating the strategic plan.
The Council approved using the proposal-submittal form that was distributed with the 27 August 1999 minutes for considerations of funding proposals.
The Council discussed the process of submitting proposals for FEMA hazard mitigation grants and the relation with the All Hazard Mitigation Advisory Committee, which reviews and sets priorities for these grants. Earthquake-related proposals to AHMAC should be reviewed by NESC or the NESC executive committee if timing is such that full review by NESC is not possible.
All Hazard Mitigation Advisory Committee Liaison
Greg Moss reported that hazard-mitigation grant funds are available from FEMA, related to the federally declared flood disaster in the summer of 1999 in southern Nevada. These funds are not restricted to projects in Clark County or related to flooding. Greg pointed out that the deadline for the notice of intent to submit a proposal to AHMAC is November 30, 1999.
The AHMAC discussed the impacts of fires during the 1999 season.
Ad Hoc Bylaws Committee
The following amendment to the Bylaws passed unanimously:
Amend Article 6 of the NESC bylaws to increase the number of members of the Board of Directors by one to 22. This position will be specified as "Seismologist 1 Representative (Statewide)".
ACTION ITEM: Ron Lynn charged the Ad Hoc Bylaws Committee (currently chaired by Burt Slemmons, with other members being Wayne Carlson and Charlie Watson) to continue working and consider whether there should be clarity in defining credentials of individuals appointed to the committee.
Ad Hoc Committee on Recognition of the NESC
Wayne Carlson noted that AHMAC also has no formal recognition. Action on this committee is tabled until AHMAC makes progress regarding its recognition (by the Legislature or the Governor).
Nominating Committee
Jon Price reported on behalf of the nominating committee (John Anderson, Jon Price, and Jim Walker). The committee recommends that all the current members and officers of the Board of Directors remain for calendar year 2000. After discussion and revision of the bylaws, the committee further recommended that the new person on the Board of Directors be Ian Buckle, recently appointed as director of the UNR Center for Civil Engineering Earthquake Research. Dr. Buckle had previously been the Deputy Director of the center for earthquake engineering research at the State University of New York in Buffalo.
DEM Update
Bert Prescott talked about the FEMA-DEM disaster office that has been operating in Las Vegas in response to the floods. About $600,000 will be available for hazard mitigation grants. The notice of intent for proposals is November 30. Contact Bert at DEM for copies of the proposal forms. Funding should be available by summertime. Deborah Rengler noted that half of the project dollars will have to be flood related (but not necessarily in Clark County) and that all the projects have to related to modules in the State's hazard mitigation plan. Craig dePolo is working with Bret Prescott to prepare the earthquake hazard module for this plan.
Rick Martin reported that the 1997 flood disaster funds will be closed out at the end of 1999. DEM hopes to close out the 1999 flood disaster funds by the end of 2000.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is assisting Nevada on fire relief. Funds are being used for feeding livestock and seeding in burned areas.
DEM has been busy with Y2K; they will have an exercise on December 9 with Washoe, Clark, and Douglas Counties participating. DEM will be activated with 12-hour shifts from December 31 through January 3 or 4. The National Guard will be ready to help as well.
Rick mentioned that several FEMA grants are being combined and that DEM wholeheartedly supports NESC. Jon Price reported that DEM has arranged to fund the NESC for federal fiscal year 2000 (with funds from FEMA and matching funds from the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology and the UNR Seismological Laboratory) and that FEMA is providing fiscal 1999 year-end funding ($8,054) to cover the NESC priority 1 item. This is a project to upgrade UNLV's seismographic station.
Rick noted that 70 to 80 people from the State of Nevada will be invited to attend an emergency management training exercise in Emmitsburg, Maryland, June 5-9, 2000. Jon Price noted that the Planning Scenario for a Major Earthquake in Western Nevada (Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Special Publication 20, produced through the NESC) will be used in this exercise.
Bob Cullins noted that the State IEMC course in June will be proceeded by a mandatory course on "Principles of Emergency Management." This course will be offered February 7-10 and April 3-6.
Tape from FEMA and James Lee Witt's Speech
Ron Lynn showed a FEMA videotape entitled "The Mitigators" and produced by Alpine Video Productions in 1998. He also discussed a speech recently made by James Lee Witt at an International Code Council meeting. Federal Executive Order 129481 covers mitigation of federal buildings.
Update on Recent Earthquakes
John Anderson provided a written report covering the recent Taiwan (M 7.5), Hector Mine, California (M 7.0), and Turkey (August 17 and November 12) earthquakes. A copy is attached to these minutes.
Ron Lynn noted that there was considerable shaking in Las Vegas from the Hector Mine earthquake. It didn't cause any settling at the Mandalay Bay Casino; some items fell off shelves in a Raley's Supermarket. Dave Weide and Ron Lynn were interviewed on TV, and Ron was also interviewed after the television show last week on a fictional earthquake in New York City. Charlie Watson reported on his observations in the epicentral area. Barbara Luke lauded the efforts of Jim O'Donnell in upgrading the UNLV seismograph; she noted, however, that more instrumentation is needed in southern Nevada. Burt Slemmons mentioned that initial reports from the USGS seismic station at Cal Tech did not accurately locate the earthquake as being on a previously recognized fault. Craig dePolo and Charlie Watson noted that the fault indeed had been previously recognized but not as a fault that had moved within Holocene time (the last 10,000 years).
John Anderson was in Ankara, Turkey, about 100 miles away from the epicenter, when the November 12 earthquake occurred. The city of Duzce was utterly destroyed. He noted that Craig dePolo's earthquake scenario (NBMG Special Publication 20) served as a model for earthquake planning in Istanbul.
Demonstration of the Seismological Laboratory's
Automatic Earthquake Notification System
Ken Smith gave a tour of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory's system to automatically determine magnitudes and locations of earthquakes and broadcast this information (by the Internet, pagers, and cell phones) within a few minutes of an event. The system is currently being tested, and additional data will be incorporated in the near future. Within a few months, the Seismological Laboratory should be able to provide the information to interested individuals and organizations at no charge.
Historical Buildings
Rebecca Ossa described efforts of the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to determine which historic buildings are vulnerable to earthquakes. The three major questions they ask are: (1) What are the earthquake factors that affect buildings? (2) What happens to historic buildings during an earthquake? (3) Which historic buildings are vulnerable? Rebecca described the approaches that their office is taking to evaluate buildings in Nevada. Not all historic buildings are a liability with respect to earthquakes.
Q: How many historic buildings are there in Nevada?
A: About 500 are on the National Historic Preservation List. There could be thousands more that are eligible for this list.
Q: Does SHPO have a prioritized list of buildings that need to be retrofitted?
A: No, because most of these buildings are private.
Q: What about public buildings?
A: The State is working on these, including the Capitol. But there has been no systematic program to identify buildings that need retrofit.
Wayne Carlson noted that Eureka County used Net Proceeds of Mines taxes to retrofit their courthouse.
Diana Todd encouraged SHPO to be proactive in retrofitting before an earthquake.
Ron Lynn noted that Clark County has few unreinforced masonry buildings (URMs). He expressed that it is unconscionable to have URMs, particularly in seismic zone 4.
Jim Buika noted that there is a California law mandating the identification of URMs and that some local jurisdictions, including Los Angeles, have required retrofits. Fred Turner, structural engineer (916-263-5506 fturner@quiknet.com), is the contact at the California Seismic Safety Commission. He recently called for an inventory of collapsible structures.
ACTION ITEM: Ron Lynn charged the Engineering and Architecture Committee and the Risk Mitigation Committee to look into the issue of how to undertake an inventory of unreinforced masonry buildings (URMs). Rebecca Ossa volunteered to serve on a subcommittee to do this.
ACTION ITEM: Ron Lynn offered to pass the list of State historic buildings to county building officials. The list is on SHPO's Web site (clan.lib.nv.us). Rebecca Ossa agreed to send Ron a copy of the list.
FEMA
Jim Buika reported that Joanne Hoffard has left FEMA and, among other duties, he is now handling the earthquake programs throughout FEMA Region IX. He commended the Council on being cost effective in using taxpayer's funds quite well to benefit the public.
He was pleased to help find fiscal year-end funds for NESC priorities.
He has received a scope of work for DEM work and the NESC detailed plans. He reiterated that FEMA gives DEM the flexibility to use the funds as they see fit, and that he is pleased that DEM continues to support the NESC.
Carson City has been added as the third Nevada Project Impact city. Carson City will receive $300,000 this year.
NEHRP and FEMA funding seem to be in good shape in the federal budget for fiscal year 2000.
There are three introductory HAZUS training sessions scheduled in Emmitsburg, Maryland (Feb. 7-10, April, and May). These are announced on the Bay Area Project Web site (www.hazus.org). FEMA uses its funds to reimburse participants for their travel expenses. Check with Jim Buika (through the Web site or directly) to sign up.
There is also an advanced HAZUS training session to be scheduled in February or March at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This will be geared for GIS professionals. People have to pay for their way to this session; check with Jim Buika to sign up.
Jim reiterated his request for Web stories from NESC.
Jon Price mentioned that FEMA will be releasing its annualized loss-estimation model (HAZUS) calculation results, in which the Nevada numbers are now likely to be about $60 million per year. This is an order-of-magnitude estimation, potentially off by a factor of 10. Nonetheless, there is an opportunity for NESC and others to capitalize on FEMA's release of the numbers. DEM and NBMG should receive advance notice of the numbers, so that they can be prepared to answer questions from the press.
Jawhar Bouabid pointed out that HAZUS 99, the latest version of the program, is being released this week. To obtain a free copy of HAZUS 99, call 202-289-7800 (National Institute of Building Sciences) or contact Jim Buika (james.buika@fema.gov). Although the program is free, you need to have one of two GIS programs (either MapInfo or ArcView) to run HAZUS 99.
Jim Buika noted that Wells Fargo is using HAZUS and has some funds to support its use.
Q: Has anyone done a cost comparison between UBC 1997 and IBC 2000?
A: No, not in terms of cost differences for common buildings.
Jim Buika offered to try to get help through the National Earthquake Technical Assistance contract to make these cost comparisons.
Jim Buika also noted that there is a Project Impact Summit on December 12-16, 1999, in Washington, D.C.. Bob Cullins expects to have someone from Las Vegas attend.
EERI's annual meeting will be in May in St. Louis. There will be a meeting of representatives of national seismic advisory boards at that meeting. This will be followed by another meeting of the group during the WSSPC meeting in September (see below).
Western States Seismic Policy Council
Jon Price reported that WSSPC has a new Executive Director, Patti Sutch.
Along with several other organizations, including NESC, FEMA, the Cascadia Region Earthquake Workgroup, the USGS, the National Emergency Management Association, the Association of American State Geologists, and the New England Emergency Consortium, WSSPC will be hosting a National Earthquake Hazards Conference in Seattle, Washington, September 18-22, 2000. The purpose of the 2000 conference is to bring together a broad cross section of individuals and organizations from throughout the country to focus on public and private policies targeted on mitigating society's risks from earthquake hazards.
Please contact the WSSPC office (415-974-6435 or WSSPC@WSSPC.ORG) for details on WSSPC activities or on how to get involved in WSSPC committee activities.
There was a meeting of representatives of seismic safety councils during the WSSPC annual meeting in September 1999, and there will be additional opportunities to meet at future WSSPC annual meetings, including the national meeting in September 2000.
Interstate 80 Seismic Retrofit
Troy Martin, Senior Bridge Engineer with the Structural Division of the Nevada Department of Transportation, discussed bridges in Nevada. There are 1413 public bridges in Nevada (defined as being over 20 feet in span). Of those, 1023 are owned by NDOT. Bridges built prior to 1975 are most prone to earthquake damage; design criteria changed thereafter, in response to the San Fernando earthquake in 1971. Over 600 of the Nevada bridges, including some reinforced concrete boxes that are not much of a hazard, were built prior to 1975. 330 of these are on principal arteries. Bridges built between 1975 and 1983 are moderately vulnerable; there are about 200 of these. There have been only minor revisions since 1983 in codes. NDOT is setting priorities for retrofitting, because the cost to retrofit all pre-1983 bridges would be prohibitive.
NDOT used a priority-setting method developed in July 1993 by UNR. Risk is defined as ten times vulnerability times importance. Importance includes a number of factors. Vulnerability is defined as the product of seismicity (peak bedrock acceleration, using 10% probability of exceedence in 50 years) times a factor for type of soil times a factor for structural details. Approximately 140 bridges were rated in the highest priority. These high-ranking bridges then receive an additional evaluation as to the benefit of seismic retrofit.
The US 395 - I-80 intersection in Reno, with two major bridges and nine structures, was rated as the highest priority. Inadequate development of column reinforcement into the pier cap and footings, lap splices in plastic hinge zones, inadequate column confinement, and no reinforcement in the top of the footings were among the reasons for ranking these bridges as needing retrofitting.
The design bedrock acceleration is 0.4 g. The spectral acceleration is 1.0 g. The retrofit is being designed to minimize impact on traffic and to be aesthetically acceptable. NDOT chose a shear-wall option rather than a column-jacket option for the design for multiple-column bents, and a column-jacket option for single-column bents. Total construction cost was $2.8 million, less than the $4 million total.
Q: What's next?
A: There are a number of additional I-80 bridges planned for the next year. 13 structures are in the overall plan. Some may be dropped because they would be handled in a plan to widen the spaghetti bowl at I-80 and U.S. 395.
Regional Advisory Commttee for the Seismological Laboratory
John Anderson updated the Council on the Laboratory's advisory committee. The Advisory Committee includes Mike Blakely, Craig dePolo, Charlie Watson, Barbara Luck, Gary Vines, Jim O'Donnell, and either Jim Werle or Mike Klein. The committee has not met; membership is still open.
Old Business
The Council voted to unanimously support the slate of nominations from the Nominating Committee. The list is appended to this report.
Ron Lynn reviewed action items from the last meetings regarding requests to DEM to assist in the preparation of signs to use after an earthquake and identification cards.
New Business
Bob Cullins mentioned that he has an interesting tape that could be shown at the next meeting.
Announcements
Ron Lynn noted a new welding standard from CHARPEY.
The next meeting of the Nevada Earthquake Safety will be from 9 a.m. to
4 p.m. on Friday, February 18, 2000 at the Desert Research Institute in Las Vegas. Dates for following meetings are:
Friday, May 19, 2000 in Reno (UNR Journalism Building)
Friday, August 25, 2000 in Las Vegas
Friday, November 17, 2000 in Reno (UNR Journalism Building).
REVIEW OF ACTION ITEMS
Ron Lynn charged the Liquefaction Subcommittee of the Geoscience Committee to contact the northern and southern Nevada chapters of ACEC and other groups to try to reach consensus on the liquefaction guidelines.
Ron Lynn charged the Risk Mitigation Committee to prepare quarterly mitigation success stories, with appropriate photographs or other graphics, and present them to the Council for inclusion in the quarterly minutes, which are sent to FEMA.
Terri Garside will make sure that Jim Buika receives an electronic version of the calendar.
Ron Lynn charged the Ad Hoc Bylaws Committee (currently chaired by Burt Slemmons, with other members being Wayne Carlson and Charlie Watson) to continue working and consider whether there should be clarity in defining credentials of individuals appointed to the committee.
Ron Lynn charged the Engineering and Architecture Committee and the Risk Mitigation Committee to look into the issue of how to undertake an inventory of unreinforced masonry buildings (URMs). Rebecca Ossa volunteered to serve on a subcommittee to do this.
Ron Lynn offered to pass the list of State historic buildings to county building officials. The list is on SHPO's Web site (clan.lib.nv.us). Rebecca Ossa agreed to send Ron a copy of the list.
Enclosures:
Education and Awareness Committee Report, November 19, 1999
Earthquake Risk Mitigation Committee Report, November 19, 1999, including
nomination form for Nevada Earthquake Risk Mitigation Awards
Strategic Planning Committee Quarterly Report, November 19, 1999
Report on Recent Earthquakes from John Anderson.
respectfully submitted by Jon Price, 19 November 1999
Members of the Board of Directors, effective 1 January 2000
Business and Industry Steven Horsford
R & R Advertising, Nevada Resort Association
Business and Industry Michael Lynch
Builders Association of Northern Nevada
Insurance Industry Greg Flanigan
Farmers Insurance
State Government Bill Lowry
Public Utilities Commission
Local Government Wayne Carlson
Nevada Public Agency Insurance Pool
Local Government Margie Gunn
(NV Assoc. of Counties) Lincoln County Office of Emergency Mgmt
Seismology John Anderson
Nevada Seismological Laboratory
Geosciences Burt Slemmons
Las Vegas consultant, UNR (retired)
Geosciences Jonathan G. Price
Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology
Engineering Mike Blakely
Structural Engineers Association of NV
Engineering Mike Klein
Converse Consultants
Education William Cox
Austin High School
Community Organizations Bob Cullins
Las Vegas Emergency Management
Community Organizations Jim Reagan
Sierra Pacific Power Company
University Ian Buckle
UNR Center for Civil Engineering Earthquake Research
University Barbara Luke
UNLV Dept. of Civil & Environmental Eng.
Building Official Ronald L. Lynn
Clark County Building Department
Building Official Norm Denny
Douglas County
State Senate Mark James
Nevada State Senator
State Assembly Bernie Anderson
Nevada State Assemblyman
Member at Large Larry Johnson
Black Eagle Consulting Inc.
Member at Large Charles P. Watson
Advanced Geological Exploration
Members of the Executive Committee, effective January 1, 2000
Chair Ronald L. Lynn
First Vice Chair-South Burt Slemmons
First Vice Chair-North Mike Blakely
Second Vice Chair-South Bob Cullins
Second Vice Chair-North Larry Johnson
Secretary Jonathan G. Price
Past Chair John Anderson
Division of Emergency Management Representative Jim Walker
Bert Prescott (alternate)