Resilient Design News For You

Newsletter Volume 4 No. 3 - Fall 2021

Who (Should Be) Afraid of the Problematic PML?

Uncertainty can be scary. But you can't address what you don't understand, and just because you don't know about a risk doesn't mean it isn't there. In a real estate world increasingly affected by natural hazard risk exposure, the outcomes of failing to have the best information available can be disastrous.

That's why in this newsletter, instead of spotlighting a specific USRC-Rated building, we're featuring a USRC service some may not know about: the USRC Transaction Rating. Over 30 TRs have been issued so far, with another 13 registrations in progress. The article below explains more.

Also in this edition, get links to registration and recordings of the latest Resilience Advantage episodes and webinars and find out about the work of three resilience coalitions USRC is supporting.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful fall season.

Evan Reis, SE

USRC Executive Director and Co-Founder

October 20^th

11am-12:30pm PDT

New Webinar:

Earthquake Threats in California

Knowing the latest information on the risky future facing all Californians will help us act differently now to become better prepared and more resilient.

RSVP today so you don't miss our latest video episode premiere followed by expert panel discussion.

Access all TRA recordings & future webinar registration

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Avoid Seismic Financial Risk with a USRC Transaction Rating Part 1—How Problematic PMLs Affect Us All

By Dr. Sharyl Rabinovici, US Resiliency Council

For those not yet aware, the USRC Transaction Rating is designed to provide owners and the financial industry with earthquake building performance information that can be used for financial due diligence and real estate transaction purposes. A Transaction Rating consists of one to three stars awarded in each USRC rating category—safety, repair cost, and recovery time.

The purpose of a Transaction Rating is to supplement or replace what is regarded by some earthquake experts as sometimes shaky and inconsistent Probable Maximum Loss (PML) practices in pockets of the financial industry. Part 1 of this article informs about the many ways PML practices may affect you. Part 2, available later this month, dives into what can be done about it. READ ON...

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USRC Supports National Resilience Coalitions

With the 2021 change of administration and continued natural and man made disasters in the news, USRC has stepped up its involvement this year in several national coalitions focused on building community resilience. Here's more about three efforts:

USRC co-founded the Alliance for National and Community Resilience or ANCR with the International Code Council (ICC) to help promote community-level programs to advance resilience. ANCR's first Community Resilience Benchmark designations were awarded to Martinsville, Virginia this August. Congratulations to this East Coast community of 15,000 for certifying their housing and essential facilities!

Resilience21 was born with the change of administration in order to make sure investment in community resilience stayed top on the agenda. Their main work has been through organizing, lobbying, and virtual events.

One of the founding members of R21 is Enterprise Community Partners, which is launching a California-based Community Powered Resilience program with a webinar kick-off next week. To give a platform to their efforts, USRC featured Resilience21 / ECP leader Laurie Schoeman as a panelist and episode interviewee in our Resilience Advantage series with Optimum Seismic.

USRC is also an active member of a new American Institute of Architects (AIA) coalition of 20+ groups called the Building Resilient Action Coalition (BRAC). BRAC members have joined forces to send multiple letters to Congress as important budget and program decisions are being negotiated that will determine federal funding levels for housing, infrastructure, and other community-strengthening investments.

Resilient buildings are essential to all of us. We hope you will join in supporting these coalitions and others in collectively advocating for the financial and political support and coordination that's needed.

The USRC improves community resilience by establishing and implementing credible and consistent rating systems that measure expected building performance in natural hazard events.

We also certifying expert structural engineers as USRC Rating Professionals and inform broad audiences on the societal importance of building performance and cost-effective opportunities to improve it.

Become a USRC Member

Case studies of USRC-rated structures, information on how to become a certified USRC Rater, and how to inquire about rating a building rating are available at www.USRC.org.