Illustrative Projects:
Hazard Mitigation and Loss Prevention
Apply risk and potential loss information to the development of laws, regulations, policies, procedures, plans, and technical studies to reduce clients’ exposure to multiple hazards with the goals of minimizing impacts, downtime, short and long term disruption, and their associated costs.

Local and State Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plans
ROA has led or supported statewide, regional, and local multi-hazard mitigation planning, now required by the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000. The hazards addressed included floods, landslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, severe Pacific storms, wildland-urban interface fires, tsunamis, wind and ice storms, and others. The plans maintain the jurisdictions’ eligibility for federal pre- and post-disaster funding and are designed to avoid repetitive and future losses by addressing growth management, preventive, capital project, public information, emergency preparedness, and other loss prevention measures.

Tsunami Mitigation Guidelines for Local Planners
ROA supported a planning consultant with the preparation of a handbook for local planning officials on how to help prevent tsunami losses in the coastal communities of five states. The guidelines addressed assessing the risk, designing and siting new development, building standards, and other subjects. It has been translated into Spanish for use in Latin America.

Regional Transportation Mitigation and Preparedness Guide
Through the San Francisco Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission, ROA led a team to develop a comprehensive guide for the region’s transportation operators. The guide provided technical information about earthquake risk, methods for evaluating and correcting structural and nonstructural deficiencies, and emergency response and service recovery planning guidance.

Hazard Mitigation Strategic Planning, 1994 Northridge Earthquake
Robert Olson Associates provided a wide range of strategic planning and technical support to help design and implement a practical mitigation program and allocations process involving several hundred million dollars in federal funds to mitigate future hazards in the southern California area that became available as a consequence of the Northridge Earthquake.

Hazard Mitigation Plan, 1987 Whittier Narrows Earthquake
The California Office of Emergency Services retained ROA to write the state's plan following the Whittier earthquake. Preparation required extensive research into all of the earthquake's impacts and a review of emergency procedures used. The recommendations cover a range of potential mitigation strategies, from structural repair to victim mental health care.

Action Plan for Hazard Reduction in Existing Buildings
ROA supported the preparation for FEMA of a nationwide action plan to reduce potential casualties resulting from the failure of buildings prone to earthquake hazards. ROA's responsibilities included helping design the project; defining key issues to be addressed; writing the public policy, legal, and financial sections of the plan; and contributing to the sections on multi-hazard assessment and information transfer.

National Guidelines for Building Seismic Rehabilitation
Robert Olson Associates, in support of a major national FEMA effort to prepare technical guidelines for use by architects, engineers, and others involved in strengthening existing buildings to resist earthquakes, prepared a guidance volume (Planning for Seismic Rehabilitation: Societal Issues, FEMA 275) on managing the associated social, economic, administrative, and political issues. This volume alerts users to the range of problems that could be encountered in their communities.

Seismic Design Guidelines for Data Processing/Communications Facilities
Through a cooperative public-private project involving thirty-two financial sponsors -- banks, insurance companies, utilities, transportation organizations, savings and loan institutions, health service organizations, the National Science Foundation, FEMA, and others, ROA developed technical guidelines for mitigating losses to data processing facilities and associated communications systems.

Statewide Incentives to Promote Earthquake Safety in California
Focusing on potential state legislative action, RAO worked with Seismic Safety Commission to develop a “catalog” of incentives—primarily financial—that could encourage hazard mitigation by helping to change the financial relationships involved. Examples included property tax exclusions for specified improvements, waiving of permit and inspection fees, and providing subsidized technical assistance to building owners.

Industrial Facilities Evaluation
For a major heavy equipment manufacturer, ROA led the engineering evaluation of the company’s Bay Area parts depot, which supplies all western states and Pacific Rim and southeast Asian customers. The evaluation of this older complex structure is being used to determine whether to improve or replace the building or to relocate the function elsewhere.

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