Build a house of cards and shake the table. Your card structure will come fluttering down in like confetti. Well, except for a few nails and, more recently, some thoughtful engineering, a house is not terribly unlike a house of cards.
These days, houses in Earthquake Country are built with the hope that they won’t suffer extensive damage from a moderate quake. Bolts are sunk into the wet concrete foundation to ensure the structure doesn’t slide off. Sheer panels cover the entire dwelling adding rigidity and strength in all directions. Prefabricated roof trusses on 23 inch centers provide even more protection from seismic forces. Chimneys aren’t even made of brick anymore.
With the new building codes and modern materials we use to build houses nowadays, what could possible happen to one in an earthquake? I asked myself the same thing and found some interesting information from the good folks in Berkeley.
Much of the serious damage to dwellings from the Northridge quake was to the foundation, usually a slab which subsequently damaged the rest of the structure. Often this damage was worse if the dwelling was built on fill rather than cut.
If you are up for some serious reading on the subject of building on fill and cut in the Santa Clarita area, let me recommend this journal article on the subject:
http://peer.berkeley.edu/publications/peer_reports/reports_2002/0209.pdf
Let me know what you think
Earthquakeman
