2015 ICC Global Forum

Long Beach, CA
September 28, 2015

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Earthquake Preparedness and Recovery within the Frame of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the World: Are Building Codes the Ultimate Solution?
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Overview

The Global Forum 2015 will address different programs in Earthquake Preparedness, Earthquake Recovery and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), how they interact with building regulations, codes and standards, and their enforcement around the world to save lives and preserve property. As DRR has been mainstreaming into development projects in hazard-prone countries, building code enforcement has been considered within the implementation component of these projects. To reduce the losses of human life and property caused by the inevitable natural hazards as they impact the build environment, governments and world institutions around the globe are increasingly taking preventive measures to help reduce these risks. This year the Global Forum will focus on how DRR is achieved through Earthquake Preparedness and/or Earthquake Recovery programs in different countries as the participants will present the characteristics of such programs as well as challenges and successes of their implementation, and how these affect the building regulations and are shaping the regulatory ecology in their countries. Come and participate in this important Forum that will gather specialists from around the world and the U.S.

Keynote Address

“When Life Safety Isn't Enough”
Speaker: Dr. Lucile M. Jones
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Dr. Lucy Jones has been a seismologist with the US Geological Survey and a Visiting Research Associate at the Seismological Laboratory of Caltech since 1983. She currently serves as the USGS Science Advisor for Risk Reduction while also leading the SAFRR Project: Science Application for Risk Reduction, which applies USGS science to reduce risk in communities across the Nation. In 2014, she was asked by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to undertake a year-long study of seismic risk in the City, resulting in the Mayor’s Resilience by Design report which detailed 18 actions that could strengthen the City’s buildings and infrastructure. Authoring over 100 papers on research seismology with primary interest in earthquake statistics and integrated disaster scenarios, Dr. Jones is known for creating and leading innovative research projects like ShakeOut Earthquake Scenario and the Great ShakeOut. She serves on the California Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council and was a Commissioner of the California Seismic Safety Commission from 2002 to 2009. Dr. Jones received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chinese Language and Literature from Brown University and a Ph. D. in geophysics from MIT.

Comments to Keynote Address

Speaker: Raymond S. Chan, C.E., S.E.
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ljones Mr. Raymond Chan is General Manager at the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. He is a licensed Structural Engineer, Civil Engineer, Building Contractor, and Real Estate Broker. He has 30 years of experience with the City, 25 in management positions. Because of his innovative and collaborative leadership techniques to lead and direct the operations of five bureaus, approximately 1000 employees with a $160 million budget, Mr. Chan was selected as the “2013 Building Official of The Year” by the California Building Official Association. He has initiated and implemented more than 70 enhancement programs, 20 of which have received a Productivity Improvement Award from the City’s Quality and Productivity Commission and 3 received a Mayor’s Civic Innovative Awards.

Panel 1: USA

“The Role of International Support in Building Regulatory Capacity for Disaster Risk Reduction in Low and Middle-income Countries”
Speakers: Thomas Moullier and Dr. Fred Krimgold
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Thomas Moullier, Senior Private Sector Development Specialist, Trade & Competitiveness, The World Bank

Mr. Moullier is a policy and regulatory reform specialist. He has advised governments and private sector organizations across the world for the past 20 years, focusing on business entry and operating regulations.

Thomas has been the World Bank Group’s focal point person in construction policy and regulation reforms since 2009. He runs programs aiming at reducing costs in regulatory compliance, improving health and safety standards, promoting regulatory best practice, increasing transparency and accountability of governments, and advising countries in strengthening their institutional capacity (including conflict and post-conflict affected countries such as Afghanistan, Yemen, Mali or Lebanon).

Thomas developed and published the World Bank Group’s first publications on best practice construction policy and regulation reforms. He is also a regular contributor to the Doing Business Report, the World Bank’s most circulated global publication.

Thomas was in charge of the regulatory and building code component of the new World Bank Group’s green building initiative, “EDGE”. The objective of the program is to decrease GHG emissions from buildings in key emerging markets such as India, China and Brazil.

In 2014, Thomas was tasked by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), the global disaster risk management platform run by the World Bank, to outline a new global programmatic approach aimed at enhancing the role of building regulations to save lives and reduce the destruction from disasters as well as chronic risks.

A French national, Thomas holds a Master of commercial and international law from the Sorbonne-Assas University in Paris. He lives with his family in the Washington D.C. area.

Dr. Fred Krimgold, Director of the Disaster Risk Reduction Program, Advanced Research Institute of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Dr. Fred Krimgold is Director of the Disaster Risk Reduction Program and a member of the faculty of the Advanced Research Institute of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Dr. Krimgold has served as a member of the Advisory Board of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and as a member of the Building Research Board of the National Research Council. Dr. Krimgold has served as a consultant on disaster management to the World Bank, USAID, FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Government of Maharashtra.

Japan

“Earthquake Preparedness and Recovery in Japan”
Speaker: Mr. Ogasawara Izumi
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Mr. Ogasawara Izumi is Manager of Building and Environment Coordination Division at the Building Instruction Department, Housing and Architecture Bureau, City of Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Since 2014, as a Manager of Building and Environment Coordination Section, Housing and Architecture Bureau, Yokohama City, he participated in the inception of issuing building permits under the Building Standard Law and in the promotion of energy savings of buildings. Some of his objectives were bringing safety to buildings and urban districts.

Regarding the design of urban districts, he was in charge of promoting a comfortable environment including the safeguarding of historic buildings, and ensuring the inclusion of green spaces for relaxation and comfort for pedestrians based on the unique system of Yokohama urban area environment design rules.

Also, as a staff at city hall, he was involved the construction of public buildings such as Yokohama City Hall and Station.

Panel 2: Nepal

“Development and Implementation of National Building Code in Nepal: Experiences and Challenges"
Speaker: Dr. Amod Dixit
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Amod Mani Dixit (Dr. Eng.) is the Executive Director of the National Society for Earthquake Technology in Nepal (NSET). Dr. Dixit studied Mineral exploration in the National Mineral Resources University, formerly known as the Leningrad Mining Institute (St. Petersburg, Russia), Geotechnical Engineering in the Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok), Management in the Graduate School of Business, Stanford, and obtained his Doctor of Engineering at the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Ehime University, Japan. His professional experience spanning 42 years covers stints with government of Nepal, private engineering consultancy, and also as a visiting professor of engineering geology and disaster risk management respectively with Tribhuwan University and Kathmandu University. In 1994, he founded the National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET), and has since served as its General Secretary and Executive Director. He has worked extensively in Nepal and many Asian countries for disaster risk reduction and also for earthquake response. Dr. Dixit sits as a Member of the Governing Board of the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) –a global collaborative effort with the aim to provide organizations and people with tools and resources for transparent assessment of earthquake risk anywhere in the world. He also sits as a Member of Management Board of the Asian Disaster Reduction and Response Network (ADRRN) of which he is a founder Member. Dr. Dixit is the recipient of Praval Janaseva Shree, Disaster Mitigation Award 2009 (Government of India), Distinguished AITAA Award 2006 (Asian Institute of Technology Alumni Award), RONAST Science and Technology Promotion Award 2005; Daivi Prakop Piditoddhar Padak (Disaster Management Award of Nepal) two times in 1997 and in 1999, and the WSSI Fellowship for 2000-2003, an award from the World Seismic Safety Initiative (WSSI), an undertaking of the International Association of Earthquake Engineering (IAEE). Dr. Dixit was inducted as a member of Technical Advisory Group of Global Disaster Preparedness Center (GDPC) of American Red Cross in 2014.

“Strengthening Building Code Implementation and Compliance in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Nepal”
Speaker: Ayse Hortacsu
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Ayse Hortacsu is the Director of Projects at the Applied Technology Council (ATC), a nonprofit corporation headquartered in Redwood City, California. She has more than 10 years of experience as a structural engineer and project manager. Ayse is currently the Project Manager for numerous seismic hazard mitigation projects funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Institute of Standards at Technology (NIST), and the City of San Francisco’s Earthquake Safety Implementation Program (ESIP). She recently managed the project that developed an adaptation of the ATC-20-1 Field Manual: Post earthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings for the country of Bhutan, considering the country’s cultural and political context. Ayse is a member of the 2014 Housner Fellows Program of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI). She is also a founding member of the Women in Structural Engineering (WiSE) network connecting women in the profession. Ayse has bachelor of science and master of science degrees in Structural Engineering from Stanford University. She is originally from Istanbul, Turkey and currently resides in San Francisco.

USA

“Improving Community Resilience Through Public-Private Partnerships: The BORP Strategy”
Speaker: David Cocke
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David Cocke, S.E., F. SEI, F. ASCE, founded his own firm, Structural Focus in Los Angeles in 2001 after 20 years at a previous firm in California. He is a registered structural engineer in a dozen states and has an expertise in seismic evaluation, historic preservation, retrofit design and new structural design. Some of David’s more notable projects include the Annenberg Performing Arts Center in Beverly Hills, the Google Los Angeles headquarters, Red Bull North America headquarters, the Wilshire Boulevard Temple restoration in Los Angeles, multiple buildings at Dreamworks, Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures, and many others. In 2013, David co-founded and is the Managing Director of SAFEq Institute which serves as a resource for post-disaster inspections information and provides direct consulting services to government entities and business owners. He believes that preplanning and partnerships with Cities can greatly reduce business interruption after an earthquake or other disaster. That belief was the driving idea behind co-founding SAFEq Institute. David currently serves on the Board of Directors and Board of Governors of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the Structural Engineers Institute respectively, and has served on numerous Boards for the Structural Engineers Association in California, and on the Board of numerous preservation organizations.

Panel 3: New Zealand & Canada

“Partnership response effectiveness immediately following the Christchurch Earthquake 22 February 2011”
Speakers: Nicholas W. Hill and Stu Geddes
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Nicholas (Nick) Hill, Chief Executive Building Officials Institute of New Zealand

Nick Hill is the Chief Executive of the Building Officials Institute of New Zealand the peak body representing the Building Surveying and Building Controls sectors, a position he has held for 5 years. The Institute is dedicated to improving the professionalism and ongoing skill sets of both its members and the wider building and construction sector. Nick is a member of the International Code Council’s (ICC) Global Membership Council’s Governing Committee and is also President of AuSAE ( Australasian Society of Association Executives) having co-lead the recent New Zealand and Australian merger. His other roles and responsibilities include:- Board Member of Australasian Certification Authority for Structural and Reinforced Steels; a member of New Zealand’s Construction Industry Council; a Wellington District Councilor for the New Zealand Automobile Association; and a Board member or industry advisor/representative on a number of New Zealand government initiatives attached to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment. Nick’s broad sector exposure includes industrial chemicals, illumination engineering, electrical wholesaling, construction, and the motor industry.

Stu Geddes, President Building Officials Institute of New Zealand

Stu has been involved in the construction industry for 40 years, with the last 24 in Building Control in various Councils around New Zealand. His various roles have ranged from on-the-ground inspections, building control management roles and to overseeing building control departments. Stu is currently working for the Queenstown Lakes District Council as a Senior Building Control Officer (SBCO) based in picturesque Wanaka in New Zealand’s South Island. Stu is the current President of the Building Officials Institute of NZ, and has been an Institute board member for 9 years. With considerable experience built up over a long career in the Building and Construction industry and well known throughout NZ in the Building Control extended family Stu is respected for his knowledge of the sector. Stu would like to share his experiences from the Christchurch Earthquakes from an on the ground perspective going door to door conducting rapid assessment building inspections.

“Christchurch Earthquake Recovery: The Long Journey”
Speaker: Ron Dickinson
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Mr. Ron Dickinson has worked as a Building Inspector, Chief Building Official and Director of Development Services for more than 25 years. Prior to his experience Christchurch, NZ his main work has been in villages of 250 people and midsized cities in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. As a building official He is certified to review buildings of all sizes and all types of occupancy throughout Canada. He has also been involved in the approval of design and construction of municipal services infrastructure. Currently Mr. Dickinson is serving as the Chair of the Alliance of Canadian Building Official’s Associations, the Past President of the Building Officials Association of British Columbia and Past President of the British Columbia and Yukon Chapter of ICC.