The Applied Technology Council is a nonprofit research organization based in California which studies the effects of natural hazard

Natural hazard

A natural hazard is a threat of a naturally occurring event that will have a negative effect on people or the environment. Many natural hazards are interrelated, e.g. earthquakes can cause tsunamis and drought can lead directly to famine. It is possible that some natural hazards are...

s on the built environment and how to mitigate these effects, particularly earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

s. It was founded through the efforts of the Structural Engineers Association of California

National Council of Structural Engineers Associations

The National Council of Structural Engineers Associations is a professional society in the United States, with subchapters in 45 states and the District of Columbia. NCSEA was established in 1993, in Chicago...

 in 1973. It does not develop building code

Building code

A building code, or building control, is a set of rules that specify the minimum acceptable level of safety for constructed objects such as buildings and nonbuilding structures. The main purpose of building codes are to protect public health, safety and general welfare as they relate to the...

s but does develop manuals which summarize information for engineers, and this information is sometimes used in codes, standards, and specifications.