In the United States, one increasingly important role for engineers, along with related earth scientists, is to give substantial assistance in the formulation of public policy as it relates to earthquake hazard reduction. Foremost at this writing are the efforts by engineers, scientists, and others found in "Meeting the Earthquake Challenge", being the final report to the Legislature of the State of California by its Joint Committee on Seismic Safety (reference 1). Enacted legislation has broken new ground in public policy, with some examples as they affect engineering mentioned in later sections of this paper (reference 2).