The Importance of Building Codes
Building codes, which first came into use to protect communities from potential earthquake damage in the 1930s, ensure uniform minimum standards of health and safety across the United States.
The philosophy of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) is to ensure the quality of construction at the local level before a disaster by making the Nation's model building codes adequate for all hazards. This makes FEMA's work much easier, both before and after a disaster.
A building code requires that a building or facility be located, designed, and constructed so that any threat to life, health, and welfare of its occupants and the public is minimized or prevented. Over and over again, the enforcement of effective building codes has had the greatest impact on the quality of construction and how structures will withstand the forces of nature.
- Seismic Safety of Federal Buildings
Many federal agencies have active seismic safety programs, primarily as a result of their need to protect their workforces from the effects of earthquake hazards in federally owned, leased, and regulated buildings. The NEHRP Report to Congress for Fiscal Years 2003 and 2004 describes federal agency activities in earthquake hazard reduction.
- Implementation of Building Codes
National implementation of new design standards is done through the adoption and enforcement of building codes. FEMA and USGS work with state and local governments and multi-state consortia to improve hazard identification and to promote the adoption of building codes in seismically at-risk communities and states. In addition, the NEHRP Recommended Provisions was selected by model code organizations as the basis for the seismic design provisions of the International Building Code, the International Residential Code, and the National Fire Protection Association 5000.
- Building Codes and NEHRP Agencies
Over the past 20 years, NSF and USGS have accumulated a significant body of basic research work in the areas of earthquake engineering, geoscience, and seismology. This fundamental research work, and the use of earthquake monitoring networks by USGS, has allowed the development of detailed seismic hazard maps by USGS and the development of significant earthquake engineering knowledge by NSF.
In parallel, FEMA, with the assistance of NIST, has developed and continued to refine the NEHRP Recommended Provisions, a guidance document for the seismic design of structures, directly incorporating the results of scientific advances of NIST, NSF, and USGS. The seismic hazard maps developed by USGS are directly referenced in the NEHRP Recommended Provisions, and NSF research results are used throughout the document. This guidance document within the engineering profession is regarded as the state-of-the-art in earthquake design guidance.
Last Modified: Friday, 05-Oct-2007 13:19:18 EDT
Email Updates