Structural Engineer and the Field Act of 1933

Due to the destruction of 230 school buildings in the 6.3 magnitude 1933 Long Beach earthquake which occurred on March 10, the Field Act was passed by the California State Legislature. The act among other things, requires the design of all schools be performed by registered Structural Engineers and Civil Engineers were no longer permitted. The Structural Engineer is a specialty discipline within civil engineering who generally has additional training and study and must pass a rigorous 16 hour test demonstrating specialty knowledge of California building law and earthquake engineering. A licensed Civil engineer may be eligible to take the structural engineering exam after 3 years of internship under a Structural Engineer. The pass rate when I passed the exam was 25%. The performance of school buildings during earthquakes since the Field Act has considerably improved with the use of Structural Engineers.

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