Before 1980, wood-framed, soft-story apartment buildings became a staple of Southern California’s rapid development. These structures featured open ground floors for parking with residential units above, prioritizing land use over safety.
These structures have since been shown to be among a community’s most deadly. Perched as if on stilts with their […]
Earthquakes have confused and terrified people throughout human history.
In ancient times, many people believed earthquakes were the result of angry gods, giants and huge animals.
The Japanese believed a giant catfish living at the bottom of the ocean would shake the Earth when he moved. The Greeks blamed Poseidon, the god […]
The increasing demand for seismic retrofitting in Southern California has led to a surge of startup companies entering the market. This raises concerns about the professional expertise of some of these new entrants in such a specialized field.
With multiple companies competing for your business, it can be challenging to distinguish […]
Few would consider a brewery as a source of earthquake resilience lessons, but Anheuser-Busch has substantial experience in this area. After its Van Nuys brewery sustained significant damage in the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, the company invested $11 million to retrofit the site’s structures for future seismic events—a decision that proved […]
In our industry, there’s a saying: earthquakes don’t kill people, buildings do. While this is an oversimplification, it highlights the critical fact that the threat to public safety during earthquakes is primarily due to structural instability. Injuries occur because building facades, walls, parapets, ceilings, or other structural components collapse under […]
The Northridge earthquake of 1994 is often cited when discussing seismic disasters because it is a shared experience for many. The 6.7-magnitude quake shook Southern California for just 10 to 20 seconds but caused $67 billion in damage. However, seismologists warn that the next “Big One” could be much more […]
Communities in the Apartment Association of California Southern Cities area face two significant earthquake threats. One is the well-known risk of buildings being damaged by strong seismic shaking, and the second is the localized danger of a tsunami triggered by a distant earthquake.
More than 150 of these powerful water forces […]
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 be able to withstand a major earthquake because it has done […]
Many Californians live in denial about earthquakes, laughing off their threat to our lives and livelihoods. After all, we’ve survived them before—why should the next one be different? The stark reality is that earthquake preparedness should be a priority for everyone. We need to ask ourselves: Are we prepared at […]
The devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria served as a wake-up call for many Californians who once felt confident in their knowledge of seismic activity. With over 50,000 lives lost in those quakes, Californians now wonder: could a similar disaster strike closer to home?
Experts provide a straightforward answer: yes, it’s […]
