Our volunteer efforts are directed in many arenas, including: helping disadvantaged homeowners to better their living environment, educating the students in our community schools, providing support to communities following major earthquakes and other disasters, and participation on legislative and building code committees to help ensure safe building structures. Below are just a few of the activities we sponsor, either with monetary donations, the volunteer efforts of our members, or both.

Rebuilding Together

SEAONC participates in Rebuilding Together, the nation's largest volunteer organization preserving & revitalizing low-income houses and communities. Each year SEAONC members donate the funds necessary and volunteer one weekend in April to rehabilitate a house in San Francisco. For more information about this year's event,
click here!

The Engineers' Alliance for the Arts (EAA) was conceived by engineering colleagues Ashraf Habibullah of Computers and Structures Inc. and Ron Vogel of Ron Vogel, SE Inc. The founding members and major sponsors are members of the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC). The Alliance is an independent organization funded by member contributions.

"As a structural engineer who believes in the value of the arts, my purpose in founding the Engineers' Alliance for the Arts was clear - to unite a group of professionals that share the desire to ensure that the arts remain a vital part of our lives and the lives of future generations. My vision is to see the Engineers' Alliance blossom into a major national funding organization for the Arts. In today's climate of increasing cutbacks in funding for the performing arts, the Alliance has the potential to make a valuable contribution to communities by providing a means for fine arts and theatre to thrive." Ashraf Habibullah

Sponsorship to date for the Engineers Alliance for the Arts includes:

Students in Arts -- Three Brick Bridge Competition

The Speakers Forum is an exciting new program developed by SEAONC to provide an opportunity for practicing professionals to reach out to the younger generations. The program presents the field of Structural Engineering with an emphasis on the role of the Structural Engineer in society and the challenges it presents as a career option. The program is extremely flexible and can be as simple as a single class lecture or as complicated as a student/parent general assembly. Class projects are also a possibility, as are ongoing programs. For more information click here.

Under the coordination and management of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES) Urban Search and Rescue Program, the eight California US&R Task Forces are part of a nationwide response system, sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Complicated Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) most often occurs in buildings that are fully or partially collapsed and very dangerous. These buildings will normally be multi-storied structures containing heavy debris with a high potential for additional collapse. The US&R team with specialists trained in search, rescue, and medical care will need to work in this dangerous environment. Engineers, trained and experienced in damaged building evaluation, help to reduce (or at least better define) the risk to these teams and to victims. In order to function effectively, these engineers must also be well prepared to make difficult value judgments in an environment that is very different from the orderly, design office. By contrast, the search, rescue, and medical members of the team are asked to make rapid, high-pressure decisions as a normal part of their occupation.

For more information about the SEAONC DES-Urban Search and Rescue Subcommittee, click here.

For more information about the Urban Search and Rescue Task Force in your area, click here.

When earthquake disaster strikes a community, there is an immediate need for damage inspections. The Structural Engineer's Association of Northern California has teamed with the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES) to recruit, train, and maintain a group of licensed engineers who are ready to respond following a major earthquake to assess the safety of building structures. There are currently approximately 278 SEAONC members who are registered as Volunteer Safety Assessment Engineers. To activate such a large pool of volunteers, the SEAONC DES-ATC 20 Subcommittee has created a telephone and e-mail communication network in order to provide rapid response to the affected communities.

The SEAONC DES-ATC 20 Subcommittee also organizes training for qualified engineers on the ATC-20 Procedures for Post-Earthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings, which includes rapid and detailed evaluation procedures for inspecting buildings and posting them as "inspected" (apparently safe), "limited entry" or "unsafe".

For more information about the SEAONC DES-ATC 20 Subcommittee, click here.

For information about the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services program in your area, visit the individual website for your local jurisdiction.

For more information about the ATC-20 Procedures for Post-Earthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings, click here

This award-winning DBI program allows San Francisco building owners to precertify private post-earthquake inspection of their buildings by qualified engineers upon acceptance of a written inspection program. The SEAONC DES-BORP Subcommittee supports the program by reviewing the inspection plans on volunteer time.

After a major earthquake involving damage to San Francisco buildings, it is important that local buildings can be inspected and reoccupied and that business can resume operations as soon as it is safely possible. The purpose of a precertified emergency inspection program is to allow a quick and thorough evaluation of possible damage to a structure by qualified persons familiar with the structural design and life-safety systems of the building. This private emergency inspection could facilitate rapid decisions regarding the closure or reoccupancy of building areas. Prearranged emergency inspection could reduce inspection delays, as the Department of Building Inspection (DBI) and volunteer inspectors will be utilizing standard emergency inspection and posting procedures with priorities geared toward public safety rather than expeditious business resumption. Some building owners may wish to develop programs of private inspection for their buildings to permit rapid, individualized emergency response.

For more information about the San Francisco Building Occupancy Resumption Program, click here.