Simpson Strong-Tie, a provider of engineered structural connectors and building solutions, has partnered with the nonprofit Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH) to host QuakeSmart Earthquake Business Preparedness Summits to provide businesses with specific, actionable steps to improve preparedness and avoid business interruption.
The latest summits were held in the San Francisco Bay Area and featured USGS Geologist David Swartz and the chief resilience officers for the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley, Calif. Simpson Strong-Tie has supported the summits since 2014 throughout the western U.S., including in Riverside and San Mateo, Calif., St. Louis, Mo., Yuma, Ariz., Kent, Wash. and Portland, Ore. Nearly 400 attendees have participated in the programs to date.
The summits are part of a continuing series of earthquake damage prevention workshops offered nationally that feature the FEMA QuakeSmart Community Resilience Program, which provides comprehensive earthquake assessments, engineering and retrofit information designed to keep businesses open after a seismic event, and information about how to budget for business retrofit projects.