What does an earthquake actually do to a building, and what makes it safer for those inside? Mariola Sullivan, PE, joins for this episode to answer these questions from a civil engineering perspective: lateral forces and joints! Mariola takes us behind the codebooks to trace regulations used to control development and mitigate hazards in Portland from 1851 through the 1970s to today.
The COVID-19 pandemic is leaving few aspects of society untouched. Because seismic safety standards are lower for residential buildings than for commercial buildings, people spending more time at home could mean higher risk of injury when an earthquake hits. Mariola discusses these risks and how we got here.
Technical Level: 5/5
Fear Factor: 2/5
