IMPROVING THE SEISMIC SAFETY OF NEW AND EXISTING LIFELINES

Given the fact that buildings continue to be useful in a seismic emergency only if the services on which they depend continue to function, the BSSC developed an action plan for the abatement of seismic hazards to lifelines to provide FEMA and other government agencies and private sector organizations with a basis for their long-range planning. The action plan was developed through a consensus process utilizing the special talents of individuals and organizations involved in the planning, design, construction, operation, and regulation of lifeline facilities and systems.

Five lifeline categories were considered: water and sewer facilities, transportation facilities, communication facilities, electric power facilities, and gas and liquid fuel lines. A workshop involving more than 65 participants and the preparation of over 40 issue papers was held. Each lifeline category was addressed by a separate panel and overview groups focused on political, economic, social, legal, regulatory, and seismic risk issues. An Action Plan Committee composed of the chairman of each workshop panel and overview group was appointed to draft the final action plan for review and comment by all workshop participants. The project reports, including the action plan and a definitive six-volume set of workshop proceedings, were transmitted to FEMA in May 1987.

In recognition of both the complexity and importance of lifelines and their susceptibility to disruption as a result of earthquakes and other natural hazards (hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding), FEMA subsequently concluded that the lifeline problem could best be approached through a nationally coordinated and structured program aimed at abating the risk to lifelines from earthquakes as well as other natural hazards. Thus, in 1988, FEMA asked the BSSC's parent institution, the National Institute of Buildings Sciences, to provide expert recommendations concerning appropriate and effective strategies and approaches to use in implementing such a program.

The effort, conducted for NIBS by an ad hoc Panel on Lifelines with the assistance of the BSSC, resulted in a report recommending that the federal government, working through FEMA, structure a nationally coordinated, comprehensive program for mitigating the risk to lifelines from seismic and other natural hazards that focuses on awareness and education, vulnerability assessment, design criteria and standards, regulatory policy, and continuing guidance. Identified were a number of specific actions to be taken during the next three to six years to initiate the program.

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