There’s a saying in our industry, that earthquakes don’t kill people. Buildings do.
Yes, it is over-simplified, but the fact remains that earthquake threats to public safety are fundamentally linked to structural stability. People get injured in earthquakes because a building facade, wall, parapet, ceiling or other part of the structure […]
There has been a steady influx of startup companies sprouting up to capitalize on Southern California’s growing seismic retrofit industry. This has led to concern that some of these new companies may not have the professional expertise required of such a specialized industry.
It can be confusing when you’ve got several […]
Should new construction be allowed on top of live earthquake faults? And, what can be done about the thousands of structures already standing on these fearsome fissures?
Questions like these have been playing out in Hollywood and other parts of the Southland, where a worrisome weave of active faults snakes its […]
Does your apartment building meet today’s standards for seismic safety and interior layout? If built before the mid-1970s, it could benefit from an upgrade of both.
Many building owners in these circumstances are taking advantage of the financial benefits of renovating their building’s interior spaces along with their seismic retrofit project.
The […]
A recent social media post raised the following question about earthquake safety.
Q: Is there a way to know how safe your apartment building is in case of an earthquake?
One person commented that if her apartment is still standing, it has survived everything until now — wrongly implying that the building […]
Few might think to turn to a brewery for lessons on earthquake resilience, but the Anheuser-Busch company knows the subject well.
When its brewery in Van Nuys suffered significant damage in the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, the company decided to invest $11 million in retrofitting structures at the site to withstand the […]
Plans to convert a community hospital into a multi-service health care campus were stalled as officials reviewed a state law requiring governments to give priority to affordable housing developers when selling or leasing surplus land.
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Many older apartment buildings contain lead and asbestos. Owners sometimes downplay the health hazards these substances pose to humans and the environment. Some are tempted to bypass the rules by removing these contaminants undercover — hoping that no […]
I recently ran across the following question in a social media post:
Q: Is there a way to know how safe your apartment building is in case of an earthquake?
One person answered that if the apartment is still standing, it has survived everything until now — wrongly implying the building must […]
Many Californians live in earthquake denial. We laugh them off, ignore their ever-present threat to our lives and livelihoods. After all, some reason, we’ve lived through earthquakes before. Why should the next one be different?
The stark reality is that protecting ourselves from earthquakes should be on all of our minds. […]
