"[1] The commission's mission statement is to "improve earthquake safety in Utah—to save lives, prevent injuries, protect property and the environment, and reduce social and economic disruption from earthquakes.
[4] Its creation was the result of raised awareness caused by the 1975 magnitude 6.0 Pocatello Valley earthquake on the Utah-Idaho border that was felt throughout much of northern Utah, and a 1976 United States Geological Survey (USGS) study that reported the likelihood of a strong earthquake to strike the Salt Lake City area within the next century.
[1] The USSC replaced the UEAB when it was created in July 1994 with the passage of Utah House Bill 358.
[6] The Strategic Plan contains 33 strategies grouped under the following five objectives: The goals of the USSC today are to facilitate the implementation of the Strategic Plan and to keep it up to date while remaining "actively engaged in trying to protect the citizens and economy of Utah before the next damaging earthquake hits.
"[7] Accomplishments of the USSC include co-sponsoring technical conferences focused on geologic hazards, establishing a student research grant program, helping to implement seismic building codes, helping to manage a post-earthquake technical clearinghouse plan, raising awareness of the dangers of unreinforced masonry structures and older school buildings, helping to expand Utah's seismic monitoring network, co-developing Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country—a non-technical handbook for earthquake safety in Utah, and supporting the development of a statewide HAZUS (Hazards U.S. loss estimation program) risk analysis.