About FEMA154:  Rapid Visual Screening of Buildings for Potential Seismic Hazards (RVS) was developed as a pre-disaster procedure that can be implemented relatively quickly and inexpensively within a community to develop a list of potentially hazardous buildings without the high cost of a detailed seismic analysis of individual buildings.  This process is known as RVS or FEMA154 and is a valuable tool for earthquake mitigation planning.

About ATC20:  Following an earthquake or a catastrophic disaster, there is an immediate need for damaged building inspections. Citizens must be kept from using unsafe buildings. Likewise, safe shelter must be provided for those left homeless. It is essential that qualified inspectors quickly identify safe and unsafe structures. A city’s building inspection staff may become overloaded and need more help.  This process is known as ATC20, or Post Earthquake Safety Evaluation of Buildings.  Attendees of this course will receive inspector qualification training, experience to become a team member for inspecting earthquake damaged buildings, and a field manual to guide their future work.

Who Should Attend - Architects, professional engineers, building inspectors or skilled construction industry personnel with at least 5 years of verifiable general building design, construction, or inspection experience that are willing to volunteer as building inspectors after a disaster.  After completing the course participants will be retained in a database of trained inspectors, and in the event of an earthquake may be asked by TEMA to volunteer for post-earthquake building inspections.