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• Reputation: 4 Q&A: 0 0 0 4 0 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Expert: 1 topic Earthquake! Follow Following 0 Bruce Schoonmaker

  1 0 We love our old houses! The good news is that they have weathered all the earthquakes in the Puget Sound area to date. The bad news is that each event weakens a house and we have not had "the big one" yet. It sounds like your home wobbled back and forth during the earthquake and that caused the cracking you describe. The door frame certainly is a symptom of that. The danger in a longer duration earthquake of two to three minutes (think Chile-type subduction zone earthquake) is that the house will wobble until it breaks. The danger in shorter, more violent shaking (think Haiti-type earthquake), is that the abrupt jerking back and forth of the earth will dislodge the house from it's foundation. Either scenario leads to homelessness. Earthquake retrofit is a process designed to connect older homes (pre-1980's) to their foundations and to strengthen the under-structure of a house to resist the back and forth movement caused by earthquakes. This is a job you can do yourself! It is neither quick nor easy, in most cases, but it is within the ability of most homeowners who are handy with tools. Consider taking home retrofit training. There is a wonderful class for people wanting to assess their homes for earthquake risk. It is a two hour "Earthquake Retrofit for Homeowners" class offered each month in Seattle for those wanting to know how to secure their homes before a big earthquake happens in our region again. http://www.seattle.gov/emergency/prepare/personal/home.htm#retrofit will take you to a page from the Seattle Office of Emergency Management that has good information on preparing a home for earthquake. At the bottom of the page is a link to find out when and where the next class will be held. The next class that I see listed is for June 2 at the Phinney Neighborhood Center from 7-9 pm. Be sure to phone in to register ahead of time to reserve a space. As for your specific foundation, without knowing more about your house it is hard to give specific advice. There are usually a couple of trained contractors at the class who are willing to talk with you and share their opinion. Bruce Schoonmaker answered in Earthquake! over 2 years ago | Report 1 comment by Charles B… 0 0 Thanks so much for all the information. Really an incredibly helpful answers. I think I might take a course just to learn about it all. I doubt I would try it myself though. Charles B commented over 2 years ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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