Earthquakes

Buildings constructed of unreinforced masonry get much if not most of the media's attention on seismic safety, but so-called 'soft story' wood buildings, often with garages on the ground floor, compose the greatest numbers of vulnerable buildings.

August 28, 2014 - San Francisco Chronicle

Sunday's powerful Bay Area earthquake brought attention to the urgent need to retrofit existing buildings in California. One expert stated the damage in Napa "was predictable." Do you know the three types of construction that need to be reinforced?

August 27, 2014 - The Wall Street Journal

Until recently, California's Monterey Shale was estimated to have the nation's highest amount of recoverable oil. Then the Energy Department revised their estimates, lowering it 96%, which turned out to be bad news for fracking moratorium advocates.

August 21, 2014 - Governing

A California legislator warns that if the Keystone XL pipeline is rejected, expect tar sands to be transported by rail to Calif. refineries and ports. Increasing oil production would reduce oil imports, but a fracking moratorium bill has advanced.

April 22, 2014 - Engineering News Record

Several earthquakes in March in Ohio's Poland Township have been linked to shale fracking, resulting in suspension of oil and gill drilling at seven wells near the quakes. Previous Ohio earthquakes were linked to disposal of wastewater from fracking.

April 14, 2014 - The New York Times

A unanimous vote by the Carson city council for the 45-day moratorium on all oil drilling, with or without fracking, was done in response to an application for drilling by Occidental Petroleum even though the company agreed not to utilize fracking.

March 21, 2014 - Los Angeles Times

Nearing the 20th anniversary of the last large earthquake to strike the L.A. region, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a year-long effort to identify ways to protect the city's vulnerable buildings and critical infrastructure from the next rumbler.

January 15, 2014 - Los Angeles Times

New fault maps could change the game for developments in Hollywood and nearby neighborhoods according to a 1972 law known as Alquist-Priolo Act, which forbids building directly atop active earthquake faults capable of rupturing the surface.

January 10, 2014 - Los Angeles Times

Recent controversies have called into question whether Los Angeles officials have done all they can to prepare the city for its next big earthquake. Mayor Eric Garcetti is making earthquake preparedness a top priority.

October 20, 2013 - Los Angeles Times

Across Los Angeles, more than a thousand concrete buildings built before the mid-1970s are at risk of collapse during an earthquake. With the area overdue for a substantial shaker, time is running out to identify at-risk structures and save lives.

October 14, 2013 - Los Angeles Times

1960s and 70s era Dingbat buildings, which are common in many California cities, may be hazardous to more than just your design sensibilities. Their much-loathed parking-oriented designs can make buildings especially vulnerable to earthquakes.

March 29, 2013 - SF.Streetsblog

I can't remember the last time I left the house and gave a moment's though to whether I'd be warm enough, or whether I needed to bring an umbrella. Meanwhile, half the East Coast is underwater right now.

November 2, 2012 - Josh Stephens

Joe Romm reports on a new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) paper that ties the unprecedented rise in earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 and greater across a broad swath of the country to man-made sources.

April 9, 2012 - Climate Progress

Youngstown, OH has experienced 11 quakes, including one rated 4.0, which may be tied to deep disposal wells for the water used in the hydraulic fracking process of natural gas drilling.

January 6, 2012 - NPR- Science

Michel Martelly is the newly elected president of Haiti. He faces the large challenge of rebuilding much of the country's population center, which was devastated by an earthquake in January 2010.

May 4, 2011 - Architectural Record

In California, some worry that the state's aging delta levees are in extreme danger of being destroyed by earthquakes. And as environmental concerns rise, the state is considering plans to re-engineer its water supplies to prevent another "Katrina".

January 6, 2011 - Miller-McCune

Nearly five years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the bungled recovery effort offers lessons to Haiti and Chile as they recover from more recent natural disasters, according to this piece from Allison Arieff.

April 6, 2010 - The New York Times

With the country is full recovery mode, urban planners in Haiti are releasing a strategy document that seeks to redistribute the population of damaged Port-au-Prince and to create a series of smaller urban centers throughout the country.

March 31, 2010 - The New York Times

Officials in the Dominican Republic have approved the creation of cities made of home built out of shipping containers -- part of efforts to aid earthquake-rattled Haiti.

March 8, 2010 - Inhabitat

The leading architect and urban planner from the Philippines is calling on the city of Manila to take stronger precautions in the face of earthquakes and other natural disasters.

March 3, 2010 - Philippine Daily Inquirer