On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 05:55, JC Dill <jcdill.lists@gmail.com> wrote:
On 23/08/11 3:13 PM, William Herrin wrote:
A. Our structures aren't built to seismic zone standards. Our construction workers aren't familiar with*how* to build to seismic zone standards. We don't secure equipment inside our buildings to seismic zone standards.
They should be. They should be. You should.
Earthquakes can happen anywhere. There's no excuse to fail to build/secure to earthquake standards.
I am not sure the original statement is completely accurate. At least for commercial construction, there are (now) seismic standards. It is true that the right coast did not change the building codes until (as I recall) the mid (to) late 1970s to account for earthquakes. I believe there are some differences in those codes from the left coast standards, to reflect the type and intensity of the quakes likely to occur (and the liquefaction issues are presumably different when the granite bedrock is practically under your feet). However, there are a *lot* of older buildings that predate the newer codes, and in general no monies are allocated for seismic retrofits (except, as in many jurisdictions, when you do major modifications and you then have to upgrade the building to the current codes). As far as securing equipment, I do remember some safety person coming around suggesting it at one point as a possibly improvement when I worked in that region in the 90's, but, not surprisingly, they were more worried about other safety improvements (like snow and ice removal, and repair of cracked sidewalks and stairs). Priorities for safety improvements will always be made. Gary (I am also not a geologist)