Building and civil engineering codes pertaining to extreme weather events is the focus of a new Memorandum of Understanding between the American Society of Civil Engineers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In a statement, Tom Smith, executive director of ASCE, remarked that “addressing current and long-term challenges facing communities across the nation and globe from extreme weather events requires close collaboration among the science and engineering communities.”
The agreement between the two agencies will see the NOAA providing key science data that can implemented for a wide range of building codes, standards, and best practices as developed by the professional engineers’ association.
The partnership has taken on a new urgency in the wake of a report issued earlier this year by NOAA classifying the year 2022 as the third most costly year on record for climate and weather-related disasters.
That report documented that there were some 18 extreme weather events costing more than $165 billion in property damages. Those events included epic wildfires in New Mexico in the spring and summer of last year, as well as unprecedented severe weather and hail storms in Texas.
The report additionally noted that in the last seven years “122 separate billion-dollar disasters have killed at least 5,000 people, with a total cost of more than $1 trillion in damages.”
The partnership will not only look at ways to make the nation’s buildings and infrastructure more extreme weather-resistant, but will also look at “inequities in climate resilience.”
Notes a press released issued by ASCE: low-income communities have tended to suffer more damage as a result of extreme weather events. “Additionally, the effects of climate change on vulnerable populations are frequently compounded by exacerbating other risks, such as inland flooding, urban heat islands, and poor air quality.”
By Garry Boulard
