ICC Evaluation Service (ICC-ES) and the International Code Council (ICC) remain in the forefront of structural and seismic issues in the built environment. As a gold sponsor of the recent Buildings at Risk (BAR) ǀ Earthquake Loss Reduction Summit, ICC-ES engineers participated in discussions regarding the strengthening of existing buildings to promote resiliency and sustainability of communities. Each annual BAR Summit is designed to help answer questions about seismic mitigation.

The event was held Oct. 8 in Los Angeles and Oct. 15 in San Francisco. Panel topics included "The Single Building and the City, Why Every Building Counts" and "The Current Situation, Addressing the Problems and Partnership & Policy." The Summit was hosted by the Structural Engineers Association of Northern and Southern California with the Federal and California Emergency Management Agencies, the Southern California Earthquake Center, the Engineering Contractors Association, The Great California Shake Out and the California Institute of Technology as partner organizations.

In collaboration with the Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC), ICC recently released the 2012 IBC Structural/Seismic Design Manuals. Each volume is an excellent reference and study guide for the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying Structural Exam. The manuals are invaluable resources for civil and structural engineers, architects, academics, and students. Now expanded to five volumes, this series developed by SEAOC includes Code Application Examples; Examples for Light-Frame, Tilt-Up and Masonry Buildings; Examples for Concrete Buildings; Examples for Steel-Framed Buildings and Examples for Seismically Isolated Buildings and Buildings with Supplemental Damping.