February 3, 2009

The Western States Seismic Policy Council Board of Directors is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 WSSPC Awards in Excellence. The Overall Award in Excellence in Mitigation went to Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska, for their School Seismic Hazard Mitigation Program.

The program is a communitywide effort of the Kodiak Island Borough of Alaska to assess the seismic risk to the Borough’s public schools and then perform the needed seismic retrofit construction. The community was recognized for their sustained commitment to take action on public school structural seismic safety, and being a model for other communities to follow to provide seismically safe schools and enhanced knowledge of seismic risks.

“Kodiak Island Borough is honored, proud, and excited to have been chosen for the 2009 WSSPC Overall Award in Excellence for Mitigation,” said Rick Gifford, Manager of Kodiak Island Borough. “We thank our community, the school district, world class consultants, elected and appointed boards and commissions, dedicated staff and state agencies who are our partners in accepting this prestigious award.”

Also selected for a 2009 WSSPC Award in Excellence in other areas were the following:

• Innovations: Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group, operating from Humboldt State University Earthquake Education Center;
• Outreach to General Public: City of Santa Rosa, California Emergency Preparedness Program called COPE (Citizens Organized to Prepare for Emergency;
• Outreach to Business/Government: Washington State Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geology and Earth Resources, Geologic Hazards Program for their Washington Decision Makers Field Conference and guidebook; and
• Research: Wasatch and Sevier Faults Paleoseismic Research conducted by the Utah Geological Survey.

The WSSPC Awards in Excellence program was started in 1996 to recognize achievement in different areas of earthquake mitigation, preparedness and response. “The Awards have been an effective method for sharing model programs and products throughout the western United States, western Canada, and the far Pacific region, and in recognizing the hard-working, creative and innovative efforts within the earthquake hazards reduction community,” said WSSPC Chairman John Parrish.

The Awards will be given at the joint WSSPC-Earthquake Engineering Research Institute annual conference at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center in Salt Lake City, Utah at a banquet Friday February 13, 2009. Summaries of the 2009 winning programs and projects are posted on the Western States Seismic Policy Council’s website at www.wsspc.org.

The mission of the Western States Seismic Policy Council is to develop seismic policies and disseminate information about programs intended to reduce earthquake-related losses.