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<TITLE>Societal Implications of Performance Based Earthquake Engineering</TITLE>
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<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Joe:</FONT>
<BR><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">I tend to agree with some of your points. However this point seemed to pique my interest, "The government can claim the right to mandate safety but how does the government obtain the right to dictate minimum risk in the reduction of private property loss?" I guess until Katrina I would not have thought too much about this. However, who is now responsible for housing so many people whose lives have been saved, but are now living for over 2-1/2 years in trailers"? If hypothetically, a large magnitude earthquake were to occur on the New Madrid Fault Zone, how many more trailers would be needed"? </FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">This is a big issue going forward for other hazards as well. One that comes to mind is the new levee certification process now being carried out by the Corps of Engineers. The new levee certification evaluation process (especially after a 2 year provisional period) is going to generate a lot of additional FEMA flood plain areas. These maps are similarly drawn up using probabilistic methods from the Hydrologic and & Hydraulic (H&H) studies. To me, rising water generally leads to personal property damage and/or loss more so than loss of life. Do you think it is the government's job to mandate this, or should they just let the owner's decide?" However, at some point the public will probably have to turn to some entity to blame as well as for support . Who do you suppose that will be?</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Larry </FONT>
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<P><FONT COLOR="#0080C0" SIZE=6 FACE="Arial Black">CDM</FONT>
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<BR><B><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Lawrence P. Goldfarb, P.E.</FONT></B><BR>
<FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Sr. Geotechnical Engineer</FONT><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"> , Group Leader</FONT>
<BR><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">3130 Fairview Park Drive</FONT><BR>
<FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Falls Church, VA 22042-4517</FONT><BR>
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<P><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Phone: (703) 485-8500</FONT>
<BR><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Direct: (703) 485-8434</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Cell: (703) 408-7282</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">Fax: (</FONT><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">703) 698-1250</FONT><BR>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">E-mail: goldfarblp@cdm.com</FONT>
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<P><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2 COLOR="#000000"> <<Goldfarb, Lawrence.vcf>> </FONT>
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