Phoenix Business
Group What Does Earthquake Damage Look Like?IntroductionOn January 17th, 1994, the Northridge Earthquake jolted the San Fernando Valley with billions of dollars of damage resulting from ground accelerations exceeding 2 times the force of gravity. Some damage was obvious and spectacular. When you see television footage of freeway overpasses, shopping malls, parking structures and office buildings reduced to a pile of rubble with bodies trapped underneath, you assume you know what earthquake damage looks like. This can be a dangerous assumption. Only the obvious and spectacular earthquake damage makes the 6 o'clock news. As catastrophe teams, building and safety inspectors, insurance adjusters, FEMA personnel, SBA loan officers, engineers, architects, contractors and homeowners began to assess earthquake damage, the operating model for "what earthquake damage looks like" was shaped by the media's interpretation of "what earthquake damage looks like when it belongs on the 6 o'clock news". If, on January 17th, there was a pile of rubble, where on January 16th, there had been a chimney or a masonry block wall, that was earthquake damage. Much structural damage that we failed to understand was termed "cosmetic" and patched over. Here is a typical example. Earthquake damage, unlike damage from other disasters, is hard to find.
This paper will identify red flags to assist you in finding the damage to your home.
Hopefully this information will help you restore your home to a
level of service equal to or better than that present before the earthquake. Back to the Home page. [ Real Property ]
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