The Unthinkable

I started reading a fascinating book on the human response to disaster. 

Think you are good in a crisis?  You should read this book and find out why. 

Or maybe you will find out that you might not respond as well as you expect.

Since Seattle is in the heart of earthquake country, this applies to most of us. 

Since our clients are interested in a seismic retrofit because they understand our earthquake risk, this book could be of interest to them.

Check it out:  The Unthinkable.

Happy reading!

Kudos

I was shopping for a service the other day.  Like most people, I started my search online.  I found a few Seattle businesses that did what I was looking for, and visited a few web sites. 

One of them caught my attention in a way that resonated with me - but not necessarily in a good way.

One of the tabs on this site was for "customer testimonials".  I clicked on it, wanting to read all the rave reviews that this company's satisfied clients had written.

There was ONE testimonial on that page.  One.

Even a company that had only been in business a couple of years would have more than one nice letter from a client.  Wouldn't they?

Sound Seismic has more testimonials than we know what to do with.  Not everybody writes to tell us how awesome we are, but we strive to impress every single client.

I'd toot Sound Seismic's horn and list off all the things we do in our quest for raving fans, but it's a lot more effective to hear it from a third party. 

Now THIS is what a testimonial page should look like!  http://soundseismic.com/about-sound-seismic/testimonials

USGS Earthquake Notification

For those of us interested in earthquake news, the USGS has an email notification system that might be worth a look.

You can adjust some parameters, like where in the world an earthquake must occur for you to receive an email.  Mine is set for anywhere in the world, as long as it is a magnitude 6.0 or greater.

Pretty fascinating how many earthquakes occur somewhere on the planet.  The other day, I received 5 separate notifications!  Three were off Honshu, Japan; one was in Cuba, and one in Indonesia.

The link is:  https://sslearthquake.usgs.gov/ens/

Enjoy!

Disasters in the News

In the two months following the tragic earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 10, Sound Seismic received more inquiries about retrofitting than we ever have in a full year. 

Not all calls were the same.  Some had thought about having the work done for years, and Japan served as a not-so-gentle nudge to move it up the priority list.

Some homeowners called because their first reaction was to add earthquake insurance to their policy, and they found that, due to the age of their house, they couldn't do that unless it had been retrofitted.

Others called in virtual panic, certain that huge seismic events on the Pacific Rim are a sign of what will happen here soon.

Many callers were concerned with protecting their greatest financial assets - their homes.  Others were focused on the life safety of their families.  A few were imagining the chaos, inconvenience, and disruption if they were forced out of their homes.

All of these calls had one thing in common - one recurring theme.  These individuals had been deeply affected by the dramatic images on television and in the papers.

The reaction was similar to what we saw after Hurricane Katrina.  Of course, we aren't at risk of hurricanes in Washington - we get earthquakes. 

But a natural disaster is a natural disaster.  And it doesn't take much of a leap to start thinking, "what if the worst case happened here?"

That "what if?" question seems to trigger an instinctual need to protect our families and see that we will be able to provide for them. 

I get it.  I feel the same instinct.  And I happen to be in a position to help many people be more prepared.  Just be patient, because we're getting really busy.

Nisqually Earthquake, ten years later

As an earthquake retrofitting contractor, I often have prospective clients tell me how their home doesn't need a retrofit because it has survived three "big" earthquakes.  The Nisqually earthquake was ten years ago, on February 28, 2001. 

In general, earthquakes are good for the retrofitting business.  They provide a wake-up call, and get homeowners to take action on retrofitting, after years of thinking about doing the work. 

The Nisqually earthquake probably did us all a disservice by creating a false sense of security.  Sure it was a magnitude 6.8 earthquake - no small tremor - but it was centered 32 miles deep in the earth's crust and some 50 miles from Seattle.

That variety of earthquake, a deep slab event, occurs relatively frequently in this area - every 30 to 60 years.  But it is typically much less destructive than the other two, less frequent, types of shakers.

A subduction zone mega quake, like the 2010 event in Chile, could be as large as magnitude 9.  That type of earthquake is likely to be centered maybe 100 miles West of Seattle, so by the time the shaking reaches Seattle, it may be similar in intensity to Nisqually.  The difference is that it could shake for two to four minutes or more! 

So homes that survived 40 seconds of Nisqually would be put to the test.  Retrofitting would provide these homes a big advantage in this type of earthquake.

We know that the last subduction zone earthquake occurred in January of the year 1700 (tsunami records in Japan show this).  Geologists say we can expect one of these mega quakes every 300-600 years, so we are due for the next one.

Probably our most serious earthquake threat is a shallow crustal earthquake.  The Seattle Fault Zone runs from Issaquah to Bremerton, right under I-90 and downtown Seattle. 

This network of faults is only a mile or two below the surface.  Due to the shallow depth and the proximity to urban areas, a shallow crustal earthquake could be much, much more damaging than Nisqually was.

Richter scale magnitude is not the best measure of how destructive an earthquake is likely to be to homes and other structures (like bridges and roads).  A better metric is lateral acceleration.  The quicker the earth's crust jerks sideways, the more likely that homes will be jolted from their foundations.

February's quake in Christchurch, New Zealand, was an example of a shallow crustal earthquake.  Its shallow depth and proximity to the city allowed that magnitude 6.3 earthquake to cause significant damage and casualties.

Fortunately, earthquakes centered on the Seattle Fault Zone are only predicted to occur every 1,000 years or so.  Unfortunately, geologists tell us that the last one was about 1,100 years ago. 

CREW (Cascadia Region Earthquake Workshop) is a group of regional experts in various fields.  They imagined what it might look like when (not if) a Seattle Fault Zone earthquake strikes.  Their scenario is grim.

In the CREW scenario, a 6.7 shallow earthquake strikes on the Seattle Fault Zone.  They project 1,660 deaths, 24,000 injured, 9,700 buildings destroyed, all major highways substantially damaged, collapsed bridges, many utility outages, and on and on. 

That type of earthquake WILL happen, it is just a matter of when.  We are overdue.  We could continue to be overdue for hundreds of years, or it could happen tomorrow.  Unfortunely, and unlike many other types of natural disasters, we will have no warning.

Rather than wait until it is too late, this blogger hopes that Nisqually's 10 year anniversary will serve as a warning. 

Geologists, structural engineers, and building officials have studied how homes fail in earthquakes, and they have learned how they can be protected: seismic retrofitting.

Homeowners insurance companies have spent a lot of time studying the risks involved in earthquake insurance.  Their underwriters have determined that one thing mitigates the risk of insuring older homes against earthquake damage: seismic retrofitting.

When the earth shakes, REALLY shakes; one thing may allow you to stay in your home instead of trying to find room in an emergency shelter: seismic retrofitting.

Seismic retrofitting works. 


Edit:  Seattle Times science reporter Sandi Doughton does a much better job than I did at explaining the very real risk of devastating earthquakes.  Read her article HERE. 

Pardon Our Dust

This blog is under construction.  And construction is something I know a little bit about, being in the remodeling and earthquake retrofitting business.

Check back for regular posts about earthquake retrofitting, Sound Seismic, Jackson Remodeling, earthquakes in the news, earthquake science, and events that Sound Seismic is participating in. 

I might occasionally post thoughts or news about some of my other interests, which include Seattle Sounders FC, fishing, skiing, my family, and the Washington Huskies, among other things.

I promise to do my best to keep it interesting and worth reading.  I'm new to blogging, so bear with me as I figure things out and work out the kinks.

Let's keep this first blog post short.  Instead of writing a whole bunch, I'll point you to our web site, http://www.soundseismic.com/.  And if you're on Facebook, consider "liking" our page at this address.  Want to know more about Jackson Remodeling, visit http://www.jacksonremodeling.com/.

Thanks for reading!