Executive Summary

The purpose of the MCEER Workshop for Seismic Hazard Mitigation of Health Care Facilities was to develop and consider the possible scope and emphases for MCEER's hospital project. The hospital project is part of a larger research endeavor that focuses on the rehabilitation of critical infrastructure facilities that society will need and expect to be operational following an earthquake.

The workshop brought representatives from academia, industry, government and emergency management together to discuss issues and identify barriers to seismic rehabilitation. The major observations and recommendations are:

1. The need to establish a unified guideline for mitigation of seismic hazards for health care facilities in the eastern U.S.,
2. Emphasize the protection of buildings as well as contents by using advanced technologies,
3. Integrate mitigation and emergency response consistent with MCEER's overall vision, and
4. Coordinate with the current FEMA project carried out at the University of Southern California that concentrates only on nonstructural hospital elements.

The expected outcome of this workshop is the development of a guideline to identify requirements of seismic mitigation efforts for health care facilities in the eastern U.S.