Inside SSA
The SEISMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA (SSA) is a scientific society devoted to the advancement of earthquake science. Founded in 1906 in San Francisco, the Society now has members throughout the world representing a variety of technical interests: seismologists and other geophysicists, geologists, engineers, insurers, and policy-makers in preparedness and safety.
The Seismological Society of America was organized in 1906 only a few months after the great San Francisco Earthquake to:
- Promote research in seismology, the scientific investigation of earthquakes, and related phenomena.
- Promote public safety by all practical means.
- Enlist the interest of engineers, architects, contractors, insurers, and property owners in the obligation to protect the community against disasters due to earthquakes and earthquake fires by showing that it is reasonably practicable and economical to build for security.
- Inform the public by appropriate publications, lectures, and other means to an understanding of the fact that earthquakes are dangerous chiefly because we do not take adequate precautions against their effects, whereas it is possible to insure ourselves against damage by proper studies of their geographic distribution, historical sequence, activities and effects on buildings.
This purpose is as relevant today as it was in 1906.