National wind hazards reduction program

Recent events such as Hurricanes Andrew and Iniki have shown that windrelated disasters occur in the United States with consequences much more far-reaching and severe than expected. During this International Decade for Natural Disaster Mitigation, (1991-2000), the U.S. wind engineering community is calling for the establishment of a wind hazards reduction program analogous in function to the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program. This proposed wind hazards program would provide badly needed leadership in improving our understanding of wind-induced structural behavior, in improving codes of practice, in providing advanced methods for evaluating and predicting wind loadings, and in providing an impetus to structural engineers to develop new technologies for improving structural performance. In the present paper, the need for such a program is discussed, and its organization and goals are outlined.