50-Year Record of Field Act Seismic Building Standards for California Schools

This paper describes the results of more than 50 years experience with enforcement of building standards for the construction of public school buildings in the State of California, one of the highly active seismic areas of the world. The Field Act, which became effective April 10, 1933, has the stated purpose of providing earthquake resistant facilities for the safety of the occupants and protection of the state property. The performance of Field Act school buildings subjected to high intensity ground motion from five earthquakes of the moderate to major range provides significant evidence of the effectiveness of this seismic hazard mitigation program.