ATC Board and Staff Investigate Flood Hazard Mitigation Issues in the Netherlands

In July 2009, ATC Board members and staff visited Netherlands, in order to learn about flooding and flood management from those who have considerable practice in it.

The ATC visit had two segments: First, there was an exploratory visit by three ATC
Board members and two ATC staff members. The site visits included the Maeslant Storm Surge Barrier in Maasluis, shown below, as well as other major flood protection systems. The purpose of this exploratory segment was to meet with representatives of the flood community and travel to sections of the country that are at high risk of flooding. Second, a workshop was held for the Dutch and the US contingents. In this workshop, the Dutch contingent, consisting of flood mitigation professionals, explained many parts of the flood hazard as viewed and managed by the Dutch, including some issues with current policies and future projects that are necessary to continue to protect the country. ATC Board and staff members discussed aspects of hazards in the US.

In the recent years, ATC has been expanding its outreach into the flood hazard area by adding several ATC Board members who are active in the flood hazard, and most recently, by adding a Director of Wind and Flood Hazard Mitigation to ATC staff in 2008. As a result of the site visits and the workshop, the ATC Board and staff have recognized areas where ATC could contribute significantly to reducing losses caused by floods in the United States.

Photo of Maeslant Storm Surge Barrier

7/2009

Welcome to the ATC Team!

As a former Principal at Magnusson Klemencic Associates in Seattle, Mike comes to ATC with more than 30 years of structural engineering experience in new design, evaluation and retrofit of existing buildings, applied research, and codes and standards development. Mike’s design experience includes the landmark Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, and his research and development experience includes the FEMA 356 Prestandard and Commentary for the Seismic Rehabilitation of Buildings, FEMA P-2012 Assessing Seismic Performance of Buildings with Configuration Irregularities (ATC-123 Project), and NIST GCR 10-917-9 Applicability of Nonlinear Multiple-Degree-of-Freedom Modeling for Design (ATC-76-6 Project).

Mike also has extensive experience as an ATC consultant serving as a reviewer, a technical contributor, and Project Director on multiple ATC projects. We look forward to how Mike’s unique experiences as a successful team member will contribute to ATC projects in the future.

Retired from federal service as a Senior Geophysicist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Mike comes to ATC with more than 30 years of experience in hazard mitigation program management and policy development, post-disaster response and recovery, and problem-focused research and development in support of FEMA’s efforts under the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). He has led FEMA’s earthquake-related work with the International Code Council and has been involved with the development of national model codes and standards since 1984.

In his career at FEMA, Mike has led the development of countless major FEMA publications, including: FEMA 350 Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame Buildings and its series of companion reports (ATC-41 Project series), FEMA P-58 Seismic Performance Assessment of Buildings, Methodology and Implementation (ATC-58 Project series), FEMA P-695 Quantification of Building Seismic Performance Factors (ATC-63 Project), FEMA P-2018 Seismic Evaluation of Older Concrete Buildings for Collapse Potential (ATC-78 Project), and FEMA P-2090/NIST SP-1254 Recommended Options for Improving the Built Environment for Post-Earthquake Reoccupancy and Functional Recovery Time (ATC-137 Project). With Mike’s extensive knowledge of federal government programs, and past collaboration with state and local agencies, hazard mitigation partners, and code development organizations, we look forward to how his unique experiences will help serve ATC’s client needs and objectives in the future.