Applied Technology Council A Nonprofit Corporation Advancing Engineering Applications for Hazard Mitigation California - Washington, DC Area

The Applied Technology Council (ATC) is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the ATC-51-1 Report, Recommended U.S.-Italy Collaborative Procedures for Earthquake Emergency Response Planning for Hospitals in Italy. Funded by the Servizio Sismico Nazionale (National Seismic Survey, NSS) of Italy, this 120-page report documents the results of a study initiated in 2001 to develop procedures for earthquake emergency response planning for Italian hospitals. The project was conducted as the second phase of a larger cooperative program being conducted by NSS and ATC to develop recommendations to improve hospital seismic safety in Italy. The program’s collaborative recommendations are based on the perspectives, experience and knowledge of specialists (from both countries) in earthquake engineering, hospital seismic safety, and hospital regulation.

This report contains:

1. Descriptions of current procedures and concepts for emergency response planning in the United States and Italy,
2. An overview of relevant procedures for both countries for evaluating and predicting the seismic vulnerability of buildings, including procedures for postearthquake inspection,
3. Recommended procedures for earthquake emergency response planning and postearthquake assessment of hospitals, to be implemented through the use of a Postearthquake Inspection Notebook (included as an appendix) and demonstrated through the application on two representative hospital facilities; and
4. Other recommendations, including:

• Improving emergency plans for individual hospitals by applying an approach inspired by the Hospital Emergency Incident Command System, broadly used in the United States;
• Using reference cards for emergency procedures and for quick intervention or repair of building systems;
  
• Establishing Emergency Operations Centers;
• Assessing the seismic vulnerability of structures and building nonstructural systems according to predictions of performance for applicable earthquake scenarios; and
• Planning and training for earthquake emergency response.

Copies of the ATC-51-1 report can be obtained from the Applied Technology Council, 201 Redwood Shores Parkway, Suite 240, Redwood City, California 94065 (phone, 650/595-1542; fax, 650/593-2320; e-mail, ATC@ATCouncil.org; web & online store, www.ATCouncil.org).

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