Surfside, Florida. Not long ago, this beachfront community was known best for its eclectic restaurants, five-star Bal Harbour shopping, upscale hotels, and multi-story condominium buildings lining the sun-kissed sands of the Atlantic coast just north of Miami.
But on June 24, a wing of the 12-story Champlain Towers imploded – bringing […]
Should hospital buildings be required to meet safety standards to withstand a major earthquake?
It’s a question being raised throughout the state as the deadline approaches for hospitals and their outpatient buildings considered at “significant risk” of failure to be retrofitted for safety.
Many of us remember the devastating Sylmar quake of […]
UC San Diego, home to one of the world’s foremost research centers for earthquake safety, also has several buildings on and off campus—including student housing, theaters, gymnasiums, laboratories, and cafes – that are at serious or severe risk to life, according to a seismic safety survey done of several University […]
June 2021 Newsletter
Ali Sahabi, GEC
Principal,
Optimum Seismic, Inc.
Knowledge is power: find out how resilience ratings make cities safer
A staggering 130 earthquakes struck our nation on Memorial Day — more than […]
Should new construction be allowed on top of live earthquake faults? And, what about the thousands of structures already perched upon these fearsome fissures?
These are questions playing out in Hollywood and other parts of the Southland today, where a worrisome weave of active faults snakes its way through our communities.
The […]
It’s been a difficult year for owners of rental income properties, with up to 20% of Southern California tenants behind on rent and many owing balances in the tens of thousands of dollars, according to various reports.
News coverage cites anonymous owners afraid to speak out on how policies put in […]
The last time Lakisha Woods went to buy a car, she was sold on the safety features: forward collision warnings, automatic emergency braking, and blind spot and lane departure warnings, to name just a few.
“When I went to buy a home a year later, nobody told me about the safety […]
There’s a big push in Orange County to make canyon communities safer against wildfire.
Much of this is driven by legislation, including Chapter 7A building codes requiring features such as tempered glass, screened vents and non-flammable materials that can dramatically increase the chances of a building surviving a fire.
Canyon and mountain […]
May 2021 Newsletter
Ali Sahabi, GEC
Principal,
Optimum Seismic, Inc.
Japan emerges from 6.8-magnitude quake unscathed, thanks to resilience
A 6.8-magnitude earthquake almost anywhere in the world would be deadly and destructive. But when […]
If you live near the coast and feel strong shaking from an earthquake, “move inland as soon as possible.”
That’s what Rick Wilson, head of the California Geological Survey’s Tsunami Program, told City News Service earlier this spring, after his agency released a series of new tsunami maps showing dire consequences […]
