| August 2024
Scyma invited to participate in a panel discussion on the importance of racial equity in the Structural Engineering Profession. Thank you SOM SF for hosting!
https://www.seaonc.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1874058&group=
IEM's Disaster Smith Podcast
| February 2024
Zahraa Saiyed of Scyma is invited to join a new podcast by IEM called DisasterSmiths. Along with Jono Anzalone, we discuss the Power of Resilience. Check out this and other podcasts by clicking below!
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)
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.
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.
DRR Pathways Canada
| July 2019
With Sage on Earth Consulting located in B.C., we kicked off a week of resilience and risk reduction discussions for B.C. and greater Canada supporting the DRR Pathways Project.
Disaster Risk Reduction Pathways | Incentives for Mitigation and Adaptation Investments
Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Safety and Security Program (CSSP)
Building disaster resilience in BC and Canada by enhancing understanding systemic risk and evidence-based disaster risk management including the socio-economic value of investing in mitigation and adaptation measures for managing earthquake and flood risk.
Learn more about DRR Pathways here.