Seismic Intelligence
Giving an interview on the NPR affiliate, KPCC - Southern California Public Radio on the effects of a catastrophic Southern California earthquake.

Giving an interview on the NPR affiliate, KPCC - Southern California Public Radio on the effects of a catastrophic Southern California earthquake.

Principal and Chief Resilience Engineer

FORREST M. LANNING, PE, CPENG

Forrest Lanning is an industry-wide recognized structural and seismic risk engineer with over 20 years of experience leading disaster resilience, infrastructure, and seismic safety initiatives across five continents. He is the founder of Endapt, a geospatial intelligence platform that empowers cities, insurers, and infrastructure leaders to adapt to environmental risks—starting with earthquake resilience.

Forrest has worked with FEMA, the World Bank, USAID, and the United Nations, advising on risk reduction programs in high-risk regions including Afghanistan, New Zealand, Central and South America, and the U.S. West Coast. He is a California Licensed Professional Engineer, a New Zealand Chartered Structural Engineer, and an EERI Housner Fellow. His work spans the design and retrofit of hospitals, schools, and public infrastructure, and he has briefed decision-makers at the White House, U.S. Senate and foreign national governments on disaster resilience strategies.

Through Endapt, Forrest is leveraging machine learning, remote sensing, and open data to solve one of the most overlooked challenges in urban resilience: understanding and acting on building-level seismic risk at scale.

Forrest is currently based in San Francisco, CA.

Media

Live interview on CNN on the pressure explosions and lava flows on the Big Island of Hawaii, May 2018

Interview on CNN Newsroom regarding the Surfside, Florida Condo Tower collapse, June 27, 2021

Clip from CNN interview on Urban Search and Rescue (USAR), June 2021

 

The earthquake in Turkey and Syria offers lessons and reminders for disaster response

In the immediate aftermath of a devastating earthquake, where someone is trapped in their collapsed home or office building and waiting for help, it's likely that the first people to help won't be trained professionals.

"The people who are going to have the most effect on the rescue is going to be your neighbors. Because they're the ones right there, right when it happens," Forrest Lanning told NPR. He's an earthquake and volcano response liaison with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a structural engineer.

Continue reading article at NPR: External Link, Feb 16, 2023

 

Interviewed on Toronto’s Newstalk 1010 on why so many building fell in the 2023 M7.8 Turkey Earthquake

 

Honors

  • Keynote speaker on California’s mandatory earthquake retrofitting policies for the Republic of Korea, Ministry of Interior and Safety at their International Seminar on Earthquake Policy Development in Seoul, 2018.

  • Keynote Speaker on an Earthquake Resilient Building Stock for the Disasters Expo USA in Anaheim, California, 2023

  • Keynote speaker on the response and recovery of an earthquake disaster for the US Territory of Guam, Department of Homeland Security and Civil Defense at their Earthquake Disaster Symposium, Guam, 2019.

  • Team member of the US Department of Interior, Strategic Sciences Group to study the long term effects of the 2018 Kilauea Volcano Eruption on the Island of Hawaii.

  • Team Leader, EERI 2016 Ecuador Earthquake Field Reconnaissance Mission to document damage and effects of the 2016 M7.8 Muisne Earthquake.

  • Invited guest speaker by the US Ambassador to New Zealand to speak on global earthquake risk reduction projects at the Connecting Young Leaders conference at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

  • Housner Fellow, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI).

Publications and articles

  • Resilience in Design and Construction: Housing and Schools in Banda Aceh (15 years after the M9.1 Earthquake and Tsunami), 17th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Sendai, Japan, 2020

  • Influence of Ground Motion on Performance of RC Infill Frames in the 2016 Ecuador Earthquake, 11th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Los Angeles, CA, 2018 (external link)

  • Implementing Nepal's National Building Code: A Case Study in Patience and Persistence, Earthquake Spectra, EERI, December 2017 Special Issue (external link)

  • Re-Levelling & Base Isolation of the Christchurch Art Gallery, 16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Santiago, Chile, 2017 (external link)

  • USAID PREPARE Program in Costa Rica and Colombia, 16th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Santiago, Chile, 2017

  • Earthquake Reconnaissance Team Report: M7.8 Muisne, Ecuador Earthquake on April 16, 2016, EERI Learning From Earthquakes Special Report, 2016 (external link)

  • Challenges of School Construction in Post-Disaster Sumatra, Structural Engineers Association of Northern California newsletter, San Francisco, CA, 2007

Professional deployments, reconnaissance and work locations

  • 2020 M6.4 Puerto Rico Earthquake Sequence, Southwest Puerto Rico

  • 2019 M7.1 Ridgecrest Earthquake Sequence, Kern and San Bernardino Counties

  • 2018 Cat 5 Super Typhoon Yutu, Saipan and Tinian, Northern Marianas Islands

  • 2018 Kilauea Volcano Eruption and Earthquakes, Island of Hawaii, USA

  • 2017 M7.1 Puebla Earthquake, Mexico City, Mexico

  • 2016 M7.8 Muisne Earthquake, Manabí, Ecuador

  • 2015 M7.8 Gorkha Earthquake, Kathmandu, Nepal

  • 2013 M6.4 Seddon/Cook Strait Earthquake, Marlborough Region, New Zealand

  • 2011 M6.4 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence, Christchurch, New Zealand

  • 2006 M6.4 Yogyakarta Earthquake, Central Java, Indonesia

  • 2006 Mount Merapi Volcano Eruption, Central Java, Indonesia

  • 2005 M8.4 Nias Earthquake, Nias, Indonesia

  • 2004 M9.1 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami, Aceh and Nias, Indonesia