Monday’s magnitude 4.3 earthquake in Berkeley was a literal wakeup call for many, but could it also serve as a figurative wakeup call? The cluster of small aftershocks after the Monday morning quake have cause some to worry that they could portend “The Big One.” The most recent large earthquake on the Hayward Fault was in 1868, 157 years ago, and because the past five large earthquakes on the Hayward Fault have occured about 140 years apart, seismologists calculate a 72% chance of a M6.8 or larger earthquake on the fault between now and 2043. The Hayward Fault is the single most urbanized earthquake fault in the United States—with more than 2.4 million people living in the Hayward Fault corridor. So are you ready for the big one?
Step 1: Protect from Injuries
Most earthquake related injuries do not occur from building collapse, which is rare, but from falling items and furniture. Start by securing tall furniture, such as bookshelves and wardrobes to the wall with furniture anchors. Items like televisions and pictures can become missile hazards if not properly secured. Start by securing items near beds or other places where people will be sleeping, then move on to the rest of the house.
Step 2: Prepare for Lack of Utilities
When the large earthquake happens, it will likely damage the utility infrastructure, cutting off power, water, and gas to your home – and it could be weeks before the utilities are restored. Create an earthquake supply cache that will have enough food, water, medicine, and other critical supplies for 1-2 weeks. You will also need a way to cook your food, clean water, and deal with sanitation. A small reserve of cash will be helpful when the power goes out an stores don’t have the ability to accept credit cards.
Step 3: Strengthen Your Home
Most homes in the Bay Area are older, and have weak areas below the main level – either a crawl space or basement. While the living areas of the home should be strong enough to withstand the lateral forces of a large earthquake, the crawl space or basement does not. Additional earthquake retrofitting measures such as bolting the mudsill and adding plywood to the cripple walls will be necessary to limit structural damage and allow you to live in your home after the earthquake. Keep in mind that some hillside homes, homes over the fault line, or homes with large “soft story” openings will need more than the standard retrofit, and a structural engineer should be retained first to evaluate and design a retrofit.
While it might not be glamorous to spend 4 or 5 figures on earthquake retrofitting, it is money well spent and will be much less than the cost to repair your home after a large earthquake – plus you’ll have somewhere to live and won’t have to fight everyone else to find a contractor.
Step 4: Consider a Battery
If being without power at your home would be problematic, either due to critical medical equipment, sump pumps, or for other reasons, you should consider installing a whole-home battery. A battery paired with a solar system will create essentially a mini-grid, and will provide sustained power for however many weeks it will take for the electrical grid to be repaired. Also keep in mind that solar (only) systems are grid-tied, meaning that they will shut down when the grid goes down and if you need sustained power, you need both solar and a battery.
While we cannot predict when the Big One will happen on the Hayward Fault, let’s use this wakeup call to prepare our homes for what we know is coming.
JMC Inspections: Service, Experience, Professionalism since 1994
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