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How Would An Earthquake Impact New York City Apartment Buildings?
New York City hasn’t been rocked by an earthquake since 1884, when a 5.2 tremor rocked Rockaway Beach. In light of recent earthquakes in Chile and Haiti, many here wonder: How would New York City’s different apartment buildings sustain the damage?
1) Townhouses, brownstones, and tenements.
Result: Pancaking.
Since their stone or brick shells cannot flex, they will crack. The wooden crossbeams will loosens. Gravity will propel all floors down to the basement.
2) Loft buildings.
Result: Falling bricks.
Steel rebar holds together most loft buildings, but bricks can come loose, causing “brick shrapnel.”
3) Mid-rise apartment buildings.
Result: Bottom floors wiped out.
Their stiff columns keep higher floors intact as they drop through the lower floors.
4) High-rise apartment buildings:
Result: Falling objects.
Multifamily contents pose a greater risk of injury than the multifamily itself. Chandeliers, bookcases, refrigerators, and heavy objects will drop on, or fly at, you at your peril.
5) High-rise apartment buildings in Battery Park City:
Result: Tipping over intact.
They are built on landfill. So what? When landfill shakes, it liquefies with the consistency of oatmeal. Then, the buildings resting on it will fall down in one piece.
Hat Tip: New York Magazine
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