Earthquakes and Building Construction

Comments discuss how earthquakes in California, especially San Francisco, influence housing and building practices, such as avoiding brick structures, adhering to strict seismic codes, and comparisons to earthquake-resistant designs in Japan.

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Keywords

DOF US SF CA wikipedia.org earthquake earthquakes buildings sf brick steel building built codes turkey

Sample Comments

pyoung Dec 7, 2011 View on HN

In California, earthquakes are the issue. Brick buildings use to be common, but they don't hold up very well in earthquakes. I ma guessing the cost of supplies also play a role.

pyoung Dec 7, 2011 View on HN

In California, earthquakes are the issue. Brick buildings use to be common, but they don't hold up very well in earthquakes. I ma guessing the cost of supplies also play a role.

littlestymaar Oct 18, 2023 View on HN

It's not like concrete buildings were automatically earthquake-safe either…

arrosenberg Feb 8, 2025 View on HN

Brick buildings don't do well with earthquakes. California also happens to sit on a major, active fault line. While it is technically possible to make a brick or stone building earthquake-proof, I would imagine it's cost prohibitive for large scale single-family housing projects. Apartment towers are already built with a multistory steel-reinforced concrete base that is built to withstand earthquakes, but it would increase costs significantly to build to the top like that.

Waterfall Jul 19, 2020 View on HN

Just encourage earthquakes and building on unstable ground. it works in Japan.

stronglikedan Jun 29, 2021 View on HN

The can stand up better to an earthquake.

chabes Aug 16, 2018 View on HN

Hopefully it's being designed with consideration for earthquakes, which are inevitable in the region

ohazi Jun 28, 2018 View on HN

Here in California we have earthquakes. You really don't want bricks here.

neworbit Apr 20, 2011 View on HN

Brick houses are for locales without earthquakes :)

lquist Oct 7, 2019 View on HN

Anybody know how these stand up to earthquakes?