Technical Assistance Programs
California Governor's Office of Emergency Services
Michael Sabbaghian is a professional engineer in State of California. He
currently is responsible for a technical programs with the California
Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES), Disaster Assistance
Division. He has been involved in a number of earthquake, flood, and fire
disasters during the eight years he has worked for OES. Prior to coming to
OES, he had a successful development and construction business, and also
worked for a consulting firm evaluating residential and commercial
buildings for earthquake and environmental concerns. One of the programs
that he is currently responsible for is the Safety Assessment Program
(SAP).
SAP trains and provides guidelines to engineering, architectural,
and building official associations whose members have interest in
volunteering to do facility safety assessment after a disaster. SAP was
started in California during the late 1980's, and has been updated to meet
today's needs. This program will be the model for federal and state
agencies to use nationwide.