San Francisco reels with buildings susceptible to earthquake

A new report has given rise to a new sensation in the domain of San Francisco, the port in western California near the Golden Gate that is one of the major industrial and transportation centers. What is the content of the report? It has been issued by the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection and according to it, a large number of buildings (top-notch in appearances) in the city are susceptible to earthquakes (especially) along with other natural disorders.

Let’s focus on the contents of the report more. The report states categorically, if there is any earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 or higher, it could render unlivable as many as 85 percent of the city’s “soft-story” apartment buildings. In this category the buildings, which are less structurally sound because their ground floors are open space, often used as retail stores or garages are included specifically. It is to be noted that 65,000 people, if not more, live and work in the 2,800 most vulnerable buildings, as indicated by the report.

The report is not only dreadful but is enough to send a shudder through the spine of the city dwellers. There is the need of thorough refurbishments hence in order to restrain the horrific outcome and it amounts to a mammoth amount of money. The appraisal suggests that the cost to retrofit those wood-framed buildings would be about $260 million. Who would bear the expense? Well, there is no doubt in it that the expense has to be borne by the landlords and the city. San Francisco is reeling under a $576 million budget deficit.

There are other fears as well. It is feared that the expense may rise and attain an unbelievable height since there is a growing need to fortify the city against the grinding fault lines flanking it on all sides. Well, the building department has commenced its study of other endangered structures and that makes the scenario more scared stiff.

However according to Vivian Day, Director of the building department, “But in earthquake country, almost any kind of building can collapse. It just depends on the size of the earthquake.”