Reply #171: mud-brick construction: major cause of death in ME earthquakes

[kineneb]

the potential for loss of life using "traditional" building methods is incredible. That is why houses in CA use woodframe construction. Build houses the way they are in other parts of the US and we would have structural failure on a massive scale in fairly low intensity earthquakes.

May I refer our friends here at DU to look at photos of the 1906 SF earthquake. The buildings which survived were wood frame (and yes, many did burn in the fires that followed, but by then, there were no people in them). Brick buildings were piles of rubble on the streets.


NorCal native, family in CA since 1908.