City and County of Honolulu – Tsunami Ready Program
Degenkolb Engineers is working with the City and County of Honolulu on improving the tsunami safety along the coast of Oahu by developing a Tsunami Ready structural evaluation program. This leverages the recently-published national standard ASCE 7-16, which includes provisions for tsunami loads and effects on building structures, by developing an evaluation criteria to screen and evaluate buildings which may be viable for tsunami vertical evacuation. The evaluation procedures are developed similar to ASCE 41-13 – Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings to take advantage of the familiarity of an existing evaluation procedure.
Degenkolb has developed both a checklist-based screening and a detailed evaluation procedure to determine which existing buildings may be used for tsunami vertical evacuation purposes. Although this procedure focuses on the typical construction on Oahu, it can also be expanded to other tsunami-prone regions of the world.
Staff on the Project
Cale Ash
Group Director Principal
I have climbed three of the five volcanoes in Washington.
Cale Ash
Group Director, Principal
Seattle
- (206) 340-8102
- cash@degenkolb.com
Education
M.S., Structural Engineering, University of Illinois, 2003
B.S., Civil Engineering, University of Illinois, 2001
Registration
CA, Structural Engineer, License No. 5305
CA, Civil Engineer, License No. 68913
WA, Civil Engineer, License No. 44835
Little Known Fact
I have climbed three of the five volcanoes in Washington: Mount Baker (10,781 ft), Mount Adams (12,276 ft), and Mount Rainier (14,411 ft). Still on the list: Mount St. Helens (8365 ft) and Glacier Peak (10,541 ft).
Why did you go into Earthquake Engineering?
During graduate school I travelled to Taipei, Taiwan as part of a reconnaissance trip after the 1999 Chi Chi earthquake. Observing the damage firsthand led me to focus my career on reducing the impact of future earthquakes.
Question of the Day
What hobby would you go into if time and money weren’t an issue?
I would definitely get into private aviation and have a small plane to travel up and down the West Coast with my family. There are so many beautiful areas to explore and what better way to see them than from the sky!
