Building damage: Generally, wood frame buildings and structures on solid ground fare best during an earthquake. Wood frame buildings are flexible enough to withstand ground shaking and swaying. Evaluations of recent earthquakes found that damage was primarily caused to:
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Unreinforced masonry structures,
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Older buildings with some degree of deterioration,
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Buildings without foundation ties.
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Multi-story structures with open or “soft” first floors, and
Most building codes have standards related to the first three concerns. This means that the most threatened buildings are older ones (built before current codes), masonry ones, and taller ones with open first floors.
In addition to the building type, damage is related to the underlying soils. Buildings on solid ground fare better, while those on loose or sandy soils will suffer more from shaking. These can be found in floodplains. If there is enough water present, the shaking can liquefy the underlying soils, which removes the support under the foundation.
Given the relatively low threat of a quake at a MMI scale of VII or greater, the threat to buildings in Kane County would be limited to large, older, unreinforced masonry structures. There is no readily available data on the number and location of these types.
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