Scyma @ The Northern California Hazards Workshop 2024
| January 2024
Zahraa Saiyed presented research on Equity and Social Vulnerability for Earthquake Mitigation Policy at the 2024 Northern California Hazards Workshop (USGS) - The Too Many Earthquake Anniversaries Edition
Read more here: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/esc/workshop/2024-NCEHW-Agenda.pdf
EERI Public Policy Climate Change and Earthquake Policy Paper
| November 2023
Zahraa Saiyed is supporting the development of a policy position and white paper on the overlaps of climate change and earthquake risk reduction - more information on this needed topic to be shared soon!
Read more here: https://www.eeri.org/advocacy-and-public-policy/public-policy-what-is-eeri-currently-doing
4th Kenji Ishihara Colloquium Series on Earthquake Engineering
| September 2022
Zahraa Saiyed facilitated a panel on the Impact of Climate Change on Community Earthquake Resilience featuring leading researchers on social vulnerability, environmental justice, and climate justice.
Read more here: https://sandiego.eeri.org/4th-kenji-ishihara-colloquium-series-on-earthquake-engineering-2/
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute - Board of Directors
| December 2021
Scyma CEO Zahraa Saiyed elected as the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s newest Board Director starting 2022.
Read more here: https://www.eeri.org/about-eeri/news/11534-2022-eeri-board-of-directors-election-results
Regional Chapter EERI Citizen Advocate Guidelines Released!
| June 2021
A companion document to EERI’s Citizen Advocate Toolkit specifically for EERI Regional Chapter seismic safety advocacy has been released! Check out the full guide here and the Toolkit on EERI’s Citizen Advocate page.
Graphic courtesy of EERI.
Economics for Disaster Prevention and Preparedness - European Commission
| April 2021
Working with the World Bank on a project for the European Commission, Zahraa Saiyed of Scyma completes a study on the economic impacts of natural disasters in Europe and evaluates preparedness and prevention investments at national and EU levels. The report, Investment in Disaster Risk Management in Europe Makes Economic Sense, is one of three studies within the project. Check out the summary report and this short video with overview of the project and its results. Landing page with all project components can be found here.
Graphic courtesy of European Commission and The World Bank Group.
Advocating for Functional Recovery
| May 2021
This week AB 1329 (Nazarian) will be heard on the Assembly floor. EERI, SEAOC, and other related organizations have submitted letters of support for the bill. You can learn more about functional recovery in the following links. Scyma has been supporting this effort over the past several years and is looking forward to a favorable outcome in California with this important piece of legislation.
New Report Charts Path Toward Superior Earthquake Recovery (Jan. 2021)
NCSEA SE3 Discrimination and Harassment Topic Brief
| May 2021
The SE3 Committee of NCSEA published the Discrimination and Harassment Topic Brief based on the results of the 2020 national survey. You can find the Topic Brief here along with all committee publications here.
“The satisfaction of respondents who have been harassed or discriminated against suffered, and they were more likely to consider leaving the profession. Among those who have already left, discrimination and harassment was the third most cited reason for leaving. Furthermore, it is clear from the data…that discrimination and harassment is prevalent in our profession and has a significant negative impact on our colleagues. As a profession, we must recognize this impact and work toward reducing it.”
Image courtesy of NCSEA SE3 Committee
Scyma participates in CA Legislative Visit Week
| May 2021
The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) organized a Legislative Visit Week with the Amreican Public Works Association (APWA), The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the California Geotechnical Engineering Association (CalGeo), and the Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC). Thank you to Representatives Lee, Quirk, and Rivas and Senators Wieckowski and Cortese (along with many others) for allowing us the opportunity to discuss our infrastructure and resilience priorities.
Virginia Tech Policy Lecture - EERI Student Chapter
| April 2021
Scyma Consulting presented a lunch-time lecture for the EERI Student Chapter at Virginia Tech entitled, “Systems Approach to Disaster Resilience: Your contributions to Wicked Problems.” Always re-iterating that your contribution to disaster risk reduction can start today!
Advocating for Earthquake Safety in Alaska
| April 2021
The EERI Alaska chapter hosted an informative discussion that covered the history of seismicity and resilience planning in Alaska. Zahraa Saiyed discussed advocacy actions that technical constituents may consider when enhancing seismic safety in Alaska. Thank you to Jessica Feenstra (Golder Associates, EERI Alaska Chapter Chair) for hosting, Sterling Straight (Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission), and Mike West (State Seismologist) for contributing to this important topic.
Centering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Our Disaster Resilience Work
| March 2021
Zahraa will be co-moderating the Thursday 2/25 plenary session for the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s virtual 2021 annual meeting with an incredible group of panelists! Read more about the session here. (Image courtesy of EERI).
50th Anniversary of the San Fernando Earthquake
| January 2021
The Structural Engineers Association of Northern California has produced a reflective piece for this month’s newsletter on the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. Read more here!
Image courtesy of SEAONC.
Webinar: Advocating for Seismic Safety in Washington State
| November 2020
Kyle Steuck and Stacy Bartoletti of Degenkolb Seattle along with Zahraa Saiyed deliver a webinar for EERI’s Washington State Chapter on the history of seismic safety, current legislation, and how to activate membership on seismic risk reduction in Washington.
Image courtesy of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.
Webinar: Citizen Advocacy - Tools to Advance Seismic Safety Policy
| October 2020
Zahraa Saiyed and Jack English (UT Austin) deliver a webinar for EERI’s Young Members Committee on becoming effective earthquake safety public policy advocates. Learn more here.
Image courtesy of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.
Earthquake Risk in Multifamily Residential Buildings - World Bank
| August 2020
World Bank report on Multifamily Residential Buildings: Europe and Central Asia Region now released. Stay tuned for blog update. You can view the report page and download the PDF report here.
Excerpt:
Multifamily residential buildings in earthquake-prone cities across Central Europe, Balkans, and Central Asia have proved to be vulnerable and have revealed several structural deficiencies during previous earthquake events. Earthquakes in these regions have damaged certain types of multifamily buildings beyond repair or have caused complete collapse, resulting in extensive homelessness and many fatalities. The vulnerability of some of these buildings can be attributed to the mass-produced nature of multifamily residential buildings as well as lack of maintenance, oversight, and disinvestment over many decades. This study investigates earthquake risk of multifamily buildings constructed before 2000 across cities in countries within Europe and Central Asia (ECA) to better understand their behavior and potential losses when subjected to earthquakes, and to inform recommendations for mitigation.
NCSEA Racial Equity Task Force
| ongoing
In our sincere efforts to improve the AEC profession for inclusion, equity, and engagement, the SE3 Committee produced a Commitment to Action to elicit our fight for racial justice in our communities. You can read the statement here.
Excerpt:
As a volunteer organization composed of practicing structural engineers, we don’t profess to have all the answers. We do, however, have the collective experience of many who have fought for change within the AEC industry. We are a group of passionate individuals dedicated to a better future for our profession. The SE3 Committee stands committed to justice and equality for all through collective, sustained actions. If you are passionate about this too, please join us in this call to action for a more inclusive, fair, and equitable future.
Natural Hazards Workshop 2020: Public Policy and Advocacy Training Session
| July 2020
With a stellar set of panelists, Zahraa @ Scyma facilitated a discussion on advocating for natural disaster risk reduction policy for the first ever virtual Natural Hazards Workshop.
This years workshop theme is Active Hope in an Era of Environmental Extremes. You can read more about the goals of the workshop on the Natural Hazards Center website here.
©Natural Hazards Workshop
Lecture @ NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi
| January 2020
Zahraa Saiyed invited to NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, to discuss the architectural history, localized design contexts of Karachi and greater Pakistan, and the balance of preservation and growth in planning.